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The "Real World" Visits Oriental, NC
Posted by Annie
on
11:44 AM
Strange things do happen in small towns. The real world eventually shows up and smacks a dose of stark reality to an otherwise quiet existance. A good thing? I think so. It's good for the brain cells when issues come up that are worth discussion. As I can understand the "facts" that surround the new, happening circumstance in Oriental, two business owners placed cameras in town. One is located on the side of a neighboring home. The business owners have the other camera on their own home. The problem with this lies with "what the cameras are directed on." One camera points into Lou-Mac Park, which is a wonderful gathering place for both residents and visitors to Oriental. This camera was placed to show visitors the sunrises and sunsets of Oriental. (The business owners have a website that features Oriental and they put the cameras up to generate advertising dollars via website visitors.) The other camera, which by the way, was the first camera to go up, is pointed toward the Town Docks of Oriental. This is a hub of activity for pedestrians, boaters docked at the town dock, etc.
Cameras are a relatively new phenomenon in today's technology. They have been used in Europe for several years now to "spy" on the goings on of citizens, catch speeders, red light runners, etc. Nowadays, cameras are surfacing more and more as a means of surveillance. Businesses use them for after hours protection, homeowners use them for security and in those terms, I truly don't see anything wrong with them. In fact, I have seen twice in as many weeks how the use of surveillance cameras has captured criminal activity as it was happening and the perps were captured as a result of video surveillance. A church in a small town placed a video camera on its premises after a rash of burglaries. Much later, a woman was meditating late at night and was attacked by a stranger who followed her into the church. Because of the recorded footage, the attacker was apprehended and will certainly be convicted as a direct result of the cameras. My point is this. The church had a problem and elected to survey itself in that manner. What good does it do to video a park? It is of great interest to me to hear the opinions of others on this. I'd like to know if you think video'ing is ok, if you have a problem with it, how far do we need to go as a society to police ourselves or is it ok for others to police us? This subject has brought a current national debate to our little village and I don't think that is a bad thing. The subject certainly warrants debate and lots of it. So, as I'm kicking off this new blog, I'm tossing a topic out there in hopes of hearing opinions.
I'll continue to post on this issue and what the result, if any, the placement of the cameras will be for Oriental, NC.
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Cameras are a relatively new phenomenon in today's technology. They have been used in Europe for several years now to "spy" on the goings on of citizens, catch speeders, red light runners, etc. Nowadays, cameras are surfacing more and more as a means of surveillance. Businesses use them for after hours protection, homeowners use them for security and in those terms, I truly don't see anything wrong with them. In fact, I have seen twice in as many weeks how the use of surveillance cameras has captured criminal activity as it was happening and the perps were captured as a result of video surveillance. A church in a small town placed a video camera on its premises after a rash of burglaries. Much later, a woman was meditating late at night and was attacked by a stranger who followed her into the church. Because of the recorded footage, the attacker was apprehended and will certainly be convicted as a direct result of the cameras. My point is this. The church had a problem and elected to survey itself in that manner. What good does it do to video a park? It is of great interest to me to hear the opinions of others on this. I'd like to know if you think video'ing is ok, if you have a problem with it, how far do we need to go as a society to police ourselves or is it ok for others to police us? This subject has brought a current national debate to our little village and I don't think that is a bad thing. The subject certainly warrants debate and lots of it. So, as I'm kicking off this new blog, I'm tossing a topic out there in hopes of hearing opinions.
I'll continue to post on this issue and what the result, if any, the placement of the cameras will be for Oriental, NC.
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