Allan Appel Photo
Aldermen Charles Blango & Sergio Rodriguez.
New Haven plans within a month to begin installing crime-fighting wireless surveillance cameras in neighborhoods. Charles Blango wants Newhallville to top the list.
Blango got the news at Wednesday night’s meeting of the Public Safety Committee of the Board of Aldermen. The Newhallville alderman had placed the request for a discussion of cameras there on the agenda in response to the 13 shootings and two homicides that have already occurred this year in his district.
City Chief Administrative Officer Rob Smuts and Police Chief Frank Limon showed up to tell him they were a step ahead: Plans were already underway to place 21 cameras throughout the city.
What’s more, the officials said, they didn’t need a law from the state or the aldermen to install the cameras as long as they are in the public right-of-way. One camera is being tested now; five will be installed at trouble spots by July. There are plenty of surveillance cameras, public and private, all over the city already, said Smuts.
After nearly three hours of discussion about civil liberties, effectiveness, and cost considerations, committee Vice-Chair Gerald Antunes, who was presiding, said a lot of neighborhoods need the cameras to help provide evidence in crime investigations.
Smuts said the cameras would ultimately be placed “where the data tells us to put them. Newhallville will probably be one.”
In the end, the committee approved a three-part amendment to Blango’s request: to endorse the idea of the cameras being installed citywide; to have officials return in July to address the full board on installation progress and policies, especially pertaining to civil liberties concerns; and to support Blango’s call for early deployment in Newhallville.
The cameras are supported by a wireless network that ultimately will enable police to view video from trouble spots — first, from 1 Union Ave. headquarters, then at substations. Later phases could include viewing on the monitors already in patrol cars.
The network and hardware are all paid for by approximately $1 million in federal Department of Homeland Security money, according to Smuts.
Blango had previously come out for adapting red light traffic cameras for crime fighting purposes. He made that pitch at a resource “fair” for the many ex-felons who come to live in Newhallville. When the red light camera initiative died in Hartford, so did Blango’s plan.
At Wednesday night’s meeting, Blango spoke in tones of quiet desperation.
“I get 50 calls every two weeks” from people terrified and pleading for him to do something, he said. His own house and those of his neighbors have been shot at.
His aldermanic colleagues, Alfreda Edwards of Newhallville and Sergio Rodriguez of Westville, spoke in support of the plan, as did mayoral candidate hopeful Clifton Graves. So did nine out of 10 members of the public, including Elder Clarence Roberts, who said cameras are not a substitute for more police patrols, but they can help.
“Statistics [of shootings in town] show we have to be honest with ourselves. And it shows we have failed. Will cameras be a cure-all? Absolutely not. But we have to use all the tools,” said Roberts, who lives in Fair Haven and is an administrator at Co-Op Arts and Humanities High School.
Committee members asked the chief if cameras help fight crime. Yes, he responded. He said they can provide both evidence of crimes and a sense of psychological safety. He had several caveats, however, including the possible displacement of crime to areas away from the cameras once they are spotted.
Then there is also cost of maintenance, he said. Trees have to be clipped so the cameras, which pivot and tilt 360 degrees, can do the job. That costs money. If video or images are needed in a legal proceeding, who pays for the cost of DVDs? And who monitors the whole system?
These questions will be worked out by the police, and eventually a larger working group, Smuts said.
By far the biggest area of concern was civil liberties. “I left my ACLU card at home, but I have strong civil liberties concerns. That’s why we’re here. It makes me uncomfortable to jump into this without extensive public discussion. It is my intention to make New Haven the most protected [of cities] from the point of view of civil liberties,” Smuts said.
Aldermen Al Paolillo & Gerald Antunes.
There would, for example, be no data mining from the new equipment. And the cameras do not have the capacity to recognize faces.
City Corporation Counsel Victor Bolden responded to committee members’ concerns about legal liabilities for potential violations of the federal and state protections against unreasonable search and seizure: “As long as a camera is focused on an open public activity, that’s not a legal problem. It’s like sending an undercover police officer,” he said.
Why waste the time to debate this. There are no legal issues when it comes to videotaping public spaces. There are already thousands of cameras around the city and suburbs. Public security cameras are used successfully by police departments in many other cities, by many of the most progressive urban mayors in the nation, and have led to crime reductions in those areas.
The city should start by installing them within retail areas, so that we can make those sections safer and start creating jobs again.