VENICE – In an effort to deter vandalism and other crimes, the city is installing 13 cameras at some of its most frequented public places. Six security cameras now look over the bathrooms at Centennial Park downtown, while four others have been added to South Jetty Park. Three more are coming to the Venice Fishing Pier. John Veneziano, director of Venice Public Works, said the cameras were installed as a deterrent — not to spy on citizens. “Who has the time to monitor all that footage?” Veneziano said. “We’re working to make people understand that they can’t just destroy things without consequence.” Veneziano said the city spent $50,000 remodeling the park’s bathrooms after a string of vandalism this fall in which a wall was covered by graffiti, a urinal was ripped from another wall and fixtures, including a paper towel dispenser, were stolen. Centennial Park is not the only prominent public space damaged recently by vandals. Railings at the the Fishing Pier were destroyed. Piles of fish guts have been left on the wooden walkway for morning joggers to step in. Compare those expenses, Veneziano says, to the $1,500 the city spent to put security cameras in all three parks. Not everyone thinks the cameras are a good idea. Greater security means more intrusion by the government, warns Andrea Mogensen, vice president of the Sarasota chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Mogenson said multiple cameras allow law enforcement or others to follow a person’s movements without a warrant […]

Source www.heraldtribune.com