Editor:
Re: White Rock eyes waterfront cameras, June 14; Only one opposes cameras, June 28.
George Orwell, in his groundbreaking novel 1984, envisioned a world in which the right to privacy was trumped by the need for extreme government control over its citizens. The model was Stalinist Russia.
Couns. Al Campbell and Larry Robinson now trump security cameras on White Rock beach as necessary – Robinson going so far as to say that in this social-media world, no one has the right to privacy anyway.
I was shocked to think a public official would speak so cavalierly of a fundamental right for which our brave Canadian soldiers have and continue to fight and die for.
Democracy requires the presumption of innocence as necessary to a fundamental right. Similarly, the right to privacy lies beyond the right of the state to intervene without just cause. Any democracy worth its salt treads lightly on this time-honoured right, and takes actions to limit privacy only on the most rare of occasions.
It behooves our public servants to determine whether there is a need for such security cameras.
Democracy must, first and foremost, ensure its citizens’ rights, security and privacy as paramount. Undoubtedly, ensuring public safety, while protecting citizens’ rights to privacy, is a continuous balancing act. Such is the price of freedom. No one said true democracy would be easy.
Thanks to Coun. Helen Fathers for recognizing immediately the impropriety of this approach.
Steven Faraher-Amidon, Surrey
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I am astonished that none of the councillors or the mayor asked the most important question – how much will these cameras cost the taxpayer?
Do the mayor and council feel the taxpayers of White Rock have money to burn? If the city does have extra money, would it be logical to reduce their taxes?
Coun. Al Campbell wants cameras on the beach. Why? White Rock has almost the lowest ration of crime in the region. Coun. Larry Robinson wants cameras on Johnston Road also. More waste of money.
Robinson and the mayor do not seem to be concerned about the invasion of privacy to their citizens. Will they be concerned when cameras invade their washrooms?
Mary Mikelson, Surrey
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Wandering around London, England for half a day, you are estimated to appear on up to 500 CCTVs.
Another estimate has 1.85 million cameras in the whole of the U.K.
The Guardian newspaper reports that less than three per cent of robberies in London are solved with CCTVs and that overall crime has not been reduced because of them and indeed is up everywhere in the U.K.
We should not be so eager to give up our privacy and freedom. Do we really want this intrusion in our lives? Is a 1984 world the answer to public mischief and crime?
“Those that would trade liberty for some temporary security deserve neither.” – Benjamin Franklin
Gerry Vincent, White Rock