The next step in civil safety?

The next time you're in Tampa, remember to smile. There's a fairly good chance you might just be on camera. Surely you've heard about these new cameras posted on street lamps in the Tampa area. They're designed to capture the image of your face and match it against a computer database to determine if you're a wanted criminal. I've got fifty bucks that says CBS is trying to take reality television to that next level, but I think I speak for all Americans when I say that the only spy cameras that should be allowed in this country are those in sorority houses.\nAll civil rights aside, using cameras in public places to catch criminals seems like a fairly good idea. After all, if you're a criminal and you don't want to be caught, then you simply have to avoid the city of Tampa. Civil rights people will kick and scream because hey, criminals have just as much a right to walk the streets of Tampa as anyone else.\nClearly we're bullying the criminal in this case.\nThe Tampa City Council is expected to take a final vote in the issue next week, but Tampa Mayor Dick Greco said even if the council votes down the issue, the cameras will remain intact. As mayor, Greco has the veto power to overturn a council vote.\nSo it looks like Tampa criminals will just have to don those black plastic glasses with the fake nose attached when shopping at their local Kroger. \nI'm as big a fan as the next guy (or girl) when it comes to civil rights, but I'm also a big fan of not getting shot, stabbed, or mugged. And anything to help prevent that from happening to people is a good thing. I understand the concerns raised by civil rights groups that cameras invade privacy, but it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.\nIf you're walking on a public street, doing whatever it is you're doing, within plain sight of many other people, what's the difference if you are being filmed? If you're a criminal I can understand the problem, but for your average law-abiding citizen it really shouldn't matter. \nMay Becker, one of about 100 people who wore masks to protest the use of cameras, recently told the Associated Press that being watched on a public street is just plain wrong.\nAm I the only one who thinks that if you're on a public street, in a public place, that you could be under surveillance from someone who is much more dangerous than the Tampa Police Department? Could the kidnapper that the very camera is trying to catch be hanging out at a sidewalk cafe, looking for a potential victim?\nA photographer from the newspaper can take your picture if you're in a public location, so what is the difference between being on the front page of The Tampa Tribune or being on a screen in the Tampa precinct? If you aren't on the run from the law, there shouldn't be much of one. \nI think people are afraid that others might know what they actually like to do, as if the Tampa Police is going to take out full-page advertisements that say "John Smith Visits the XXX Theater Eight Times a Day!" \nAs a society, we're kind of hypocritical on technological issues.\nWe demand the fastest, most advanced computers and equipment to use behind closed doors. But put a camera on a lamppost and try to catch some bad guys? No way.\nWith a heavily underpaid and undermanned police force, we now have the power and opportunity to utilize some of our innovations to actually help accomplish something, like getting people off the streets who shouldn't be on them in the first place.\nSo the next time you need a good hideout place, Tampa might not be your best bet. Unless, of course, you have a mask. Just remember to get one with a smile.