The Baltimore city police department has signed a contract with an independent company to fly surveillance planes over the city. These planes are equipped with high resolution cameras. The intent is to capture video footage of criminals in the act. The city council approved this by a very small margin. Baltimore city has become a shooting gallery. Just three months into this year and 52 homicides! Baltimore ended last year with 348 shot dead in the streets! The plan is to get a look at just who is shooting whom. But in typical fashion the Maryland chapter of the ACLU has filed a lawsuit, claiming it will be an invasion of privacy. They, of course, want the program stopped immediately.
That's the long and short of it. I, of course ,have an opinion on that. I ask, can you really expect privacy on a public street? These aircrafts are to solely fly over the city in the hopes they catch criminal behaviors and the perpetrators identified. In a city with a culture of, " don't snitch " or get yourself and your family killed I see it as a good thing. You know crime is still crime even when you don't get caught! The intent here is to prevent crime. There are plenty of cameras everywhere these days. Mostly we call them security cameras, I question what is different about security cameras in an airplane? Are they somehow far more sinister? Hey I'm all for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, I strongly support those documents. I fail to see how any of those rights are being violated by this action. Video evidence is pretty compelling stuff to me. All of this video is to be kept secure unless it is needed in an actual case. The thing is, to me, even if that footage was live streamed as it was being recorded I wouldn't have an issue with that. I have zero expectation of privacy on a public street. Duh, that's why it is called PUBLIC. Now I realize these lawyers, with their college education and training in rhetoric like to put the spin on things. Sorry, not buying that. You can't have privacy in public. Now that sounds like some liberal logic to me. Kinda like being a little pregnant. Kinda like being in a two person race, coming in second and saying you didn't lose that race. You lost!. Publicly private? If any of you are wrestling fans you know that John Cena uses that as a catch phrase; " you can't see me " is what he says. That's to draw attention to himself. Publicly private. I'm shooting people on the street, I'm committing crimes, but you can't see me. You can't if we take those planes out of the skies. And to those of you not committing homicides or other crimes what are you afraid the camera will see? Just what are you doing in Public that is so private? The answer is, nothing, if it is done in public, it's public. I can see you, and sometimes you are doing strange things, disgusting things, and just plain acting weird. What you do in the privacy of your own home I haven't a clue. That's private.
If I can do something without being seen does that make it private? If I can steal something without being seen, is that still stealing? The ACLU says I have an expectation of privacy on public streets. Well I didn't expect to get caught speeding either, that's on a public street, seems like my rights were violated. I have an expectation of not being caught! What's up with that speed trap? I should be able to shoot whoever I want, on a public street, and expect that to be private! The nerve, to think you can look. Well, I never. I feel so violated.
That's the long and short of it. I, of course ,have an opinion on that. I ask, can you really expect privacy on a public street? These aircrafts are to solely fly over the city in the hopes they catch criminal behaviors and the perpetrators identified. In a city with a culture of, " don't snitch " or get yourself and your family killed I see it as a good thing. You know crime is still crime even when you don't get caught! The intent here is to prevent crime. There are plenty of cameras everywhere these days. Mostly we call them security cameras, I question what is different about security cameras in an airplane? Are they somehow far more sinister? Hey I'm all for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, I strongly support those documents. I fail to see how any of those rights are being violated by this action. Video evidence is pretty compelling stuff to me. All of this video is to be kept secure unless it is needed in an actual case. The thing is, to me, even if that footage was live streamed as it was being recorded I wouldn't have an issue with that. I have zero expectation of privacy on a public street. Duh, that's why it is called PUBLIC. Now I realize these lawyers, with their college education and training in rhetoric like to put the spin on things. Sorry, not buying that. You can't have privacy in public. Now that sounds like some liberal logic to me. Kinda like being a little pregnant. Kinda like being in a two person race, coming in second and saying you didn't lose that race. You lost!. Publicly private? If any of you are wrestling fans you know that John Cena uses that as a catch phrase; " you can't see me " is what he says. That's to draw attention to himself. Publicly private. I'm shooting people on the street, I'm committing crimes, but you can't see me. You can't if we take those planes out of the skies. And to those of you not committing homicides or other crimes what are you afraid the camera will see? Just what are you doing in Public that is so private? The answer is, nothing, if it is done in public, it's public. I can see you, and sometimes you are doing strange things, disgusting things, and just plain acting weird. What you do in the privacy of your own home I haven't a clue. That's private.
If I can do something without being seen does that make it private? If I can steal something without being seen, is that still stealing? The ACLU says I have an expectation of privacy on public streets. Well I didn't expect to get caught speeding either, that's on a public street, seems like my rights were violated. I have an expectation of not being caught! What's up with that speed trap? I should be able to shoot whoever I want, on a public street, and expect that to be private! The nerve, to think you can look. Well, I never. I feel so violated.
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