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March 06, 2006
Tiny Alaska town installs 80 surveillance cameras
Dillingham, Alaska, population 2,400, has just installed 80 surveillance cameras courtesy of a $202,000 Homeland Security grant. Significantly larger Anchorage, Alaska has only 40 of the same surveillance cameras to protect its port. More than 200 area residents have signed a petition to have the cameras removed, citing concerns about privacy.
"A quiet city like Dillingham, without a single street light and more wildlife than humans, doesn't need one camera for every 30 residents," according to petition signer Tim Smeekins. "There are no jihadist sockeyes swimming into our bay, no militant moose, no bomb-bearing belugas."
The local police chief told the Associated Press that he hopes the cameras can also be used to end the drinking, deaths and drug deals at the Dillingham port every summer when the town fills up with fishermen.
The cameras will be fully operational this summer, have no audio capabilities and will be used to gather evidence, with video being stored only if a crime is reported.
Posted by Kathleen Miller at March 6, 2006 01:47 PM
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