Legal Commentary

Cameras, Cameras Everywhere

By TChris

The City of St. Paul is installing 45 new cameras to monitor the area around the Xcel Energy Center during the Republican National Convention.

The $2 million system is funded with money from the Department of Justice to the Republican Convention. All of the cameras will stay in St. Paul after convention visitors leave, though some of them will be moved to other parts of downtown.

The good news is that feeds from the cameras will be streamed over the internet so that the public can see what Big Brother is seeing. While the cameras are supposed to help the police keep an eye on protesters, the video streams will help the public keep an eye on the police. Protesters have learned the value of video.

Protesters have trained at least 70 people to carry camcorders, too. "It's very important that we have evidence showing police misconduct if it does happen," said Rachael Bengston, a lawyer with the National Lawyers Guild. She said a group of legal observers will log the video and keep it in case of any legal action.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on August 09, 2008 (boomark / email).