The Great Security Extravaganza
For another exciting episode of what happens when Comedy is dressed up as Security.
Apparently, in the wake of the Moscow subway bombing, New York police flooded their subway, conducting random bag searches and putting black uniformed gun toting guards with body armor in the subway.
‘I feel safe,” said retired Pedro Rodriguez, 66, as he waited at a Lower Manhattan subway station on Monday. “But there should be more security down here like at Grand Central station where there are people with machine guns.’
It’s such a shame the tanks are so wide they can’t get down the subway steps.
That response on the back of spending US$212 Million dollars to install 1,000 cameras and 3,000 sensors to monitor the entire city subway back in 2005.
We know they ended up spending a lot more than that because there are now 4313 cameras at March 31st, 2010. I can be that exact because this report details how only 2770 of the cameras actually work.
But rest assured, after Lockheed, the people who won that $212 Million contract back in 2005, finish suing the City of New York over the contract, another 900 cameras will be brought on line. By June they say.
Never mind that this old British Home Office research showed CCTV cameras had no proven effective at reducing crime.
Or this Scottish study showing CCTV had no effect at reducing crime in Glasgow.
Or this example, 178 cameras were installed on a San Francisco housing development using a Federal security grant but had never helped police arrest a single homicide suspect. The Housing Authority had spent over $200,000 that year to maintain the cameras but couldn’t afford to employ anyone to watch them.
Or this interview, where the British Metropolitan Police confirm that less than one crime is solved per 1,000 cameras installed, at an averaged installation cost of A$33,000. Never mind the cost of maintenance or staff to watch them.
IN COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY UNRELATED NEWS — New York Mayor, Michael Bloomberg announced on January 29th, the city would have to cut 23,000 jobs and increase sales tax to 8.75% (amongst other measures) to plug a $4 Billion dollar shortfall in the city spending.
Where does all the money go one wonders?
Carlton
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