Cops Disguise Cameras as Fire Hydrants

Cops Disguise Cameras as Fire Hydrants

www.blacklistednews.com

In Florida, Sheriff Sgt. Ken Sonier “watches those who don’t want to be seen,” according to News-Press. Of course, in a healthy, non-brainwashed society most us would not take kindly to being watched, no matter the reason, but in the post-9/11 world far too many of us have bought into the idea we are somehow obliged to surrender our privacy in order to combat the terrorists, never mind we don’t have a good idea who the terrorists are. Fox News now tells us they have blond hair and blue eyes.

Sonier and the Lee County cops are busy installing “custom-made cameras” in fire hydrants, on exit signs in apartment buildings, and metal underneath cars. “Citizens don’t know what we do,” bragged Lee County Sheriff Lt. Gary Desrosiers of the Technical Investigations Unit. “And that’s a good thing.” It was presumably a good thing in East Germany, too, or so the fascist control freaks who once ran that country no doubt believed.

“The annual budget for the TIU is about $10 million, but that includes salaries and maintenance on all the department’s cell phones, laptops and equipment. Most of the equipment purchased is with federal grants.” More specifically, Department of Homeland Security grants.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Anybody still in denial that we are fastly headed to a police state better wake the heck up quick...This is stuff straight out of an Orwell novel come to life, or nazi-germany...Again, the recurring theme of "fighting terrorism" is used in domestic settings that have ZERO to to do with terrorism, and EVERYTHING to do with spying on, and intimidating the citizens...Very alarming.

“In Cape Coral, police accepted a $50,000 grant from the Department of Homeland Security to purchase a Video Detective. It is capable of recording audio, video and stills from blocks away and can clean up images and sound recordings turned in as evidence. Now grainy footage of a bank robbery suspect becomes as clear as a yearbook photo.”

Bank robbery? More likely the technology will be used to monitor average citizens and catch them in the act of minor misdemeanors — littering, parking violations, drinking in public, smoking marijuana on the street corner, etc. It will be used as a revenue generator and a more effective way to get people in the system, herd them into the prison-industrial complex.

But it’s not all Stasi-style covert snooping. It’s also the psychological factor of living in a world based on Orwell’s dystopian novel. “Like security cameras in a bank, some systems are meant to be noticed. The sheriff’s office purchased two alert systems to startle vandals.”

In addition to acclimating folks to living in a militarized police state, such in-your-face systems are put in place to get the great unwashed used to being watched

www.blacklistednews.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

If the police have the right to spy on us, then in all fairness, the citizens should have the right to observe and monitor police proceedings, including jail conditions and interrogations.


I'm not a criminal, I have never broken the law (at least I've never been charged of anything). I am however, very upset by these cameras, why?

Suppose I become an opponent to a government body because I feel they aren't being honest.
Suppose that government body wants to find a way to discredit me, and get me off their backs before I blow their cover.

It would be rather easy to take the footage of me, and wait until I eventually bump into someone they know is committing crimes... then they can warp a story to make it look like I'm in consortium with that criminal.

Presto, I've been discredited, and I'm no longer a political threat to that government body. Did I do anything wrong? No. But the cameras in that instance have been used to destroy me.


Criminals know that when they have served their time, they can go right back to committing crimes... in fact, they're typically poor, and often see the prison as a place they can get a good meal, and a bed to sleep on.
Simply put, criminals aren't afraid of these cameras.
Terrorists aren't afraid of cameras... a camera isn't going to stop a bomb.


Only honor bound citizens have a reason to fear cameras. As they can prevent you from making sure your government stays in line.

[edit on 21-4-2008 by johnsky]