Letter: For crime, don't rely on cameras

Dear Editor:

Thankfully, the people of Libby have stood up against proposed surveillance cameras on Mineral Avenue.

I worked in Colorado in the 1990s and watched them breed until they are on freeways spitting out tickets with your photograph .. at city intersections … peering out of buildings live on the Internet … in every store, etc.

Big Brother has a partner-peeping Tom.

When I returned to Montana in 2000, Colorado was considering putting wheel locks on cars if you didn’t pay the video camera’s ticket. Colorado citizens were upset but government is too strong and the people don’t have the sense of outspoken independence that we see in Montana. People here have the character to speak up against government invasion of privacy.

I’ve heard it reported that the cameras won’t be constantly monitored. With today’s technology, there is no reason anyone – with a password – couldn’t view it on a computer. This voyeuristic technology will create a “need” for more cameras with greater resolution, upgrades, tech support and maintenance – all at great taxpayer expense.

Surveillance cameras would create an atmosphere unfriendly to business. Who wants their movements watched and the places they do business recorded? This will not help downtown merchants, the local economy or our quality of life. We don’t care what Whitefish does.

Does anyone think cameras will stop window-breaking? The perpetrators could see it as a dare and increase vandalism, easily avoiding the cameras (unless they are everywhere). Tax money is better spent on human law enforcement, counseling and outreach. Video may be a “tool” of law enforcement; it is also a “tool” of socialist control.

Our constitutional protections against unauthorized use of our images are based on the assumption of innocence and the Fourth Amendment. Morally, we don’t want our precious air of freedom in this state to be polluted by government.

Crime downtown is probably alcohol-related. Libby has the highest rate of teenage drinking in Montana outside of the Indian reservations. If pride in community is built up, peer pressure is more effective than Big Brother. For crime, let’s rely on our law enforcement.

Ron Carter

Libby