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Mayor proposes new safety plan
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by Courtney Johnson
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
The Madison Police Department and Mayor Dave Cieslewicz announced plans Tuesday to increase safety in the downtown and campus area.
The Downtown Safety Initiative proposes using a combination of surveillance cameras and increased police visibility to prevent the types of violent crimes that occurred at night and at bartime last year.
"It's not all about policement — it's really about everybody taking some responsibility for their own safety," Cieslewicz told The Badger Herald Tuesday.
The plan is funded by the $100,000 allotted for downtown safety in the city's 2007 budget. About $70,000 will be used to pay for extra police officers, with the remainder used to pay for other aspects of the program, such as wireless surveillance cameras in problem areas.
The wireless cameras will be capable of sending surveillance footage to the laptops of police officers in squad cars, Cieslewicz said.
Some people, however, wonder if the use of cameras in public places might raise privacy concerns.
"Personally, I'd like to see law enforcement try to deal with it another way, because this does sort of constitute a lack of privacy," University of Wisconsin political science professor Donald Downs said.
However, Downs added because there is not an expectation of privacy when in public, the use of cameras would likely not violate any Fourth Amendment rights.
But the mayor said while he has considered possible violations of privacy, he does not expect the cameras to cause any problems.
"I think that might have been more of an issue, say, a decade ago, but just the way technology has evolved — and these things are so ubiquitous now — I just don't think it's going to be an issue," Cieslewicz said.
This is not the first time, however, the MPD has employed cameras in situations they deemed potentially unsafe. Cameras have been used in the past during Halloween on State Street and on King Street after a number of assaults occurred outside Club Majestic.
"We're going to research and analyze our most problem areas and from there allocate the appropriate resources, whether it's cameras or more personnel," said Mike Hanson, public information officer for the MPD.
Cieslewicz, who is seeking re-election this April, is facing disagreement from his opponents regarding the initiative. Ray Allen, who owns The Madison Times and is running against Cieslewicz this spring, feels the plan is shortsighted.
"This plan doesn't address the root causes of crime, and we feel that there needs to be a city-wide plan that is tough and smart on crime," said Semmi Pasha, a spokesperson for Allen.
If elected, Pasha said Allen would like to focus more of the city's resources on investigative resources, such as additional detectives for the MPD.
According to Ald. Mike Verveer, District 4, the $100,000 budget for downtown safety is funded by Madison's hotel-room tax. Verveer said he expects the plan to help increase the visibility of police at night, particularly on weekends between 11 p.m. and 3 a.m.
"The [extra officers] would not be spent busting house parties and looking for underagers in bars," Verveer said. "They would be out being visible in the street to prevent violent crime."
The initiative also calls for additional support for campus safety programs, such as SAFE Walk and the Langdon Street neighborhood watch. The plan will be discussed by a group of downtown stakeholders Wednesday before being sent before the City Council for a final vote.
Anonymous (January 24, 2007 @ 1:11pm):
An idea: howz 'bout putting cameras at the Shell gas station on University Avenue--you know, the one where all the police hang out eating powdered donuts and guzzling coffee. That's where they hang out all night.
Anonymous (January 24, 2007 @ 1:22pm):
this is just the start of a police state...
i highly doubt that this drastic increase in usage of cameras and more police is the result of a few muggings and "large crowds"
Anonymous (January 24, 2007 @ 8:19pm):
get saferide more phonelines and computers for weekend nights
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