San Francisco is My Home

05
Oct

Smile, you’re on TV

Author: kris, Category: News

Our illustrious mayor, on whom I have a bit of a crush, is threatening — er, promising — to put 25 new crime cameras on the streets. We’ve already got 68 cameras out there, which have been recording our street crime for two years and have led to exactly one homicide arrest.  Newsom (illustrious mayor) argues that it’s hard to measure the real impact of the cameras, because their very presence deters crime and makes people feel safer.

This is kind of a typical Newsom statement. It’s like Butch Cassidy saying grimly “I got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals.” As a freelance journalist, I’ve had the pleasure of hearing our i.m. speak at a number of venues and one consistent trait about him is his anger. He’s angry with the press for writing about his hair instead of his deeds. He’s angry with the Board of Supervisors for not hitching their wagon to his grand plans. He’s angry with the citizens for voting against taxes that would pay for the services they demand.

This sounds like a criticism, but it’s not. All this anger is so obviously motivated by a genuine, fierce love for this city. He’s really got a vision of the way things could be, and it maddens him that he has to work with other people, slower people, reactionary people, to make it happen.

Although I think he’s on the wrong track with this camera thing. Real live policemen make me feel safer on the streets at night. A camera will just watch me get mugged, and on a dark street it probably won’t see much. Besides, I hate having my picture taken.

The president of the Police Commission won’t put the request on the agenda until she gets more facts. The city is currently negotiating with UC to perform a study of the cameras’ effectiveness.