The installation of eight live-feed security cameras has prompted debate between Columbia Police Department and some residents, disputing whether or not the cameras infringe on their constitutional rights.
The real-time cameras operate between 10 p.m. and 3 a.m. Thursday through Sunday and are monitored by CPD officers. During the rest of the week, cameras record footage that can be accessed by CPD.
Since first being installed in July, Columbia police have solved two crimes through the use of the cameras.
“I’m a civil libertarian so I believe our civil liberties are of higher importance,” Keep Columbia Free President Mark Flakne said. “Although the Supreme Court has ruled, and I think wrongly, that you should have no expectation of privacy on a public street, I think the government monitored cameras present a special problem.”
The cameras are identifiable by their white boxes with CPD logos. Cameras are located on Broadway, Cherry, Ninth, Tenth and Hitt streets.
The locations are meant to be conspicuous to keep residents aware of where they are being monitored, according to the CPD website. However, Flakne doesn’t agree that the cameras are easily spottable.
“The cameras are not conspicuous,” Flakne said. “The ordinance states plainly that the cameras are to be conspicuous.”
Flakne said Keep Columbia Free will watch the opposition and possibly look into litigation in the future.
“They don’t understand civil liberties and they don’t understand the dangers of this,” Flakne said. “They’ve set up a lot of well-funded propaganda by the folks that want to implement these cameras.”
During the elections last spring, Keep Columbia Safe, a local, pro-security camera organization, collected the necessary number of signatures to place the security cameras issue on the ballot. Overall, 58 percent of voters in Columbia voted “Yes” on the measure to increase security camera presence downtown.
Sixty percent of voters in Ward 1, where the cameras were to be located, voted against the installation of additional security devices.
“We don’t have a problem with cameras in enclosed areas like cameras in a parking garage,” Flakne said “It’s been proven time and time again that cameras have a small effect on minor property crime on public streets and are not a deterrent for violent crime.”
The cost of the cameras will be split between CPD and the City of Columbia. The security devices initially cost $25,000 to install and will cost $75,000 on a yearly basis. During the campaign for the cameras, the public was told that the devices would cost $50,000 each year.
CPD Lt. Chris Kelley has been responsible for setting up, maintaining and viewing the cameras.
“It’s a force multiplier for the police department,” Kelley said. “You can observe multiple locations versus having a person on foot who can only see so many things at one time. The cameras have been given to us by the citizens of Columbia from a public vote, and we’ll move forward with the program based on the Council’s approval.”
