I'm a San Diego resident that was falsely accused of a serious offense a few years ago. Surveillance footage from a restaurant saved me from prosecution.<p>I know that this is a minority opinion, but I'm in favor of cameras in public places. There will always be the potential for abuse even with strong restrictions, but I think the benefits are worth it.
How are these "Smart Streetlights" and not standard CCTV cameras that governments and private entities have been installing for decades? Is this just clever marketing to reduce public outrage?
> while it was not part of the initial plan, police later began to review the raw camera footage to help solve serious or violent crime<p>Once the technological hurdles are overcome, the social barriers are more a matter of "when" not "if". Having dumb streetlights is much more of a protection against surveillance, and less of a temptation, than having streetlights capable of it, but guarantees "that we don't intend surveillance". It's a lot harder to sneak $30 million dollar expenditures through a city budget than a memo in the police department about fully using capabilities that already existed anyways...
Hi all, I've been answering questions about this effort over on Reddit [0], but happy to chat on questions about how this is going down here as well.<p>[0] <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/sandiego/comments/ipyei8/san_diegos_smart_streetlights_have_been_shut_down/" rel="nofollow">https://www.reddit.com/r/sandiego/comments/ipyei8/san_diegos...</a>
If you are looking for some entertainment, read the City Attorney's attempt to explain the data that was being collected:<p><a href="https://timesofsandiego.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/streetlights.pdf" rel="nofollow">https://timesofsandiego.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/stree...</a>
I always find these stories interesting, because, frankly, these cameras I'm sure DO help catch criminals very effectively.<p>However, they also allow very effective privacy violations of course.<p>Because of this there's no perfect outcome (and opinions across the board).
Wasn't one of the two San Diego mayoral candidates, Todd Gloria, on city council when they passed the resolution to install these? Why is there no scrutiny of his part in all of this?
At the same time, the city government is adding explicit surveillance feeds for law enforcement.<p><a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/east-county/lemon-grove/story/2020-09-08/lemon-grove-sheriffs-ready-roll-out-camera-coverage-of-city" rel="nofollow">https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/communities/east-county...</a>
I wonder how these sorts of decisions would stand up if put to a ballot initiative. Has there ever been an instance of the public voting on cameras and surveillance technology in their towns?
Also this, same day, same newspaper:<p><a href="https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/2020-09-09/san-diego-moving-toward-repeal-of-seditious-language-ban-police-have-used-during-protests" rel="nofollow">https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/politics/story/202...</a><p>>San Diego moves toward repeal of ‘seditious language’ ban police have used during protests<p>>Rule against anti-authority speech ...
I don’t see what is the problem if the footage from this camera is made available to the general public all the time including law enforcement authorities. Open access to information is better and can have a positive impact.
The article title is missing the key word "camera". "Smart Streetlights" just sound like they intelligently control when the lights turn on and off, and saying that they would be turned off sounds like San Diego would be plunged into darkness at night.
I don’t get why people are against cameras. We have limited police resources and need to enable them to locate wanted criminals easily. Betting on police randomly spotting a suspect with their eyes while on patrol is a bad bet. We can do better and this technology is the way.