Are the cameras REALLY working?

[WT Huck?]

Ok so there is an article in the Times giving glowing praise to the cameras in the park. I was definitely in favor of the cameras but some things in the article make me wonder.....

if you didnt read it the article is here :http://mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=484622

I guess what bothers me is the cameras seem to be described as a deterrent to crime when I thought the point of a camera was to capture evidence. The article makes no point in saying how the cameras aided in PROSECUTING any crimes. In fact, the article mentions vandalism is up over last year.

If we JUST wanted a deterrent we could have bought some fake cameras and put up a couple of cheap red and blue flashing lights and tell folks "you're being watched"
Fake cameras are a whole bunch cheaper. hmmm......

[dragonfly]

I heard awhile ago that they do not work.

[Kyle Mitchell]

As I read the article, I was expecting to find out about video footage being used for prosecution too.

If they don't take any action when the incidents happen right in front of them, maybe the deterrence is all we can expect until we get a change in our city's leadership and the way things are done here.

[Kyle Mitchell]

I heard that when they were filming the sequel to Men in Black. Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith both got drunk in the park and the city didn't take pictures and they parked by a fire hydrant and the city didn't take pictures and they climbed on the fountain and the city didn't pictures and somebody urinated on the band shell and the city didn't take pictures and there was a big brawl in the park and the cops were there and the city didn't take pictures.

[dog]

Nov 17, 2013 8:22:28 GMT -6 Kyle Mitchell said:

As I read the article, I was expecting to find out about video footage being used for prosecution too.

If they don't take any action when the incidents happen right in front of them, maybe the deterrence is all we can expect until we get a change in our city's leadership and the way things are done here.

There is another article talking about prosecution.

mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=484602

[Kyle Mitchell]

That is the article I was talking about.

Surveillance footage from the park can be used for investigations and evidence, Pastirik said. - See more at: mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=484602#sthash.5SNJt2GB.dpuf

I don't see where he says that it has been used, only that it can.

[dog]

Nov 17, 2013 8:52:36 GMT -6 Kyle Mitchell said:

That is the article I was talking about.

Surveillance footage from the park can be used for investigations and evidence, Pastirik said. - See more at: mywebtimes.com/archives/ottawa/display.php?id=484602#sthash.5SNJt2GB.dpuf

I don't see where he says that it has been used, only that it can.

That is the same article. I guess your question of whether it has been used should be directed to the Lasalle County States Attorney office. I had talked to an officer over the weekend and he talked about the reluctancy of the states attorneys office to prosecute many of these cases.

[father of two]

And that is where the bigger problem lies. If criminals aren't prosecuted I can see reluctance of officers to waste time arresting, doing paperwork and going to court to have SA dismiss it.