Posted 2/20/2006 05:43:00 PM by Douglas

Houston Police Chief Hurtt steps in it. I can foresee this phrase becoming its own category here at the blog: "If you're not doing anything wrong, you don't have anything to worry about."

Houston's police chief on Wednesday proposed placing surveillance cameras in apartment complexes, downtown streets, shopping malls and even private homes to fight crime during a shortage of police officers.

"I know a lot of people are concerned about Big Brother, but my response to that is, if you are not doing anything wrong, why should you worry about it?" Chief Harold Hurtt told reporters Wednesday at a regular briefing.

Houston is facing a severe police shortage because of too many retirements and too few recruits, and the city has absorbed 150,000 hurricane evacuees who are filling apartment complexes in crime-ridden neighborhoods. The City Council is considering a public safety tax to pay for more officers.

Building permits should require malls and large apartment complexes to install surveillance cameras, Hurtt said. And if a homeowner requires repeated police response, it is reasonable to require camera surveillance of the property, he said.

Every jurisdiction uses this excuse for crap like this, but is it necessary, or even effective? Doesn't matter, 'cause here's the deal. When the people that decided "what's wrong" are the same ones with access to all the surveillance data, whether or not you have something to worry about lies completely within their discretion.