On June 9, 2005
Tom Leighton, mayor of Wilkes-Barre PA
a small city in Luzerne County Pennsylvania, announced in his
"Unbelievable" speech that "We are going to install cameras for
public safety in our neighborhood parks and in our downtown." This news which
I believe to be of extreme importance went completely undiscussed by any
newspaper or television station until a letter to the editor appeared in The
Citizens' Voice, a local paper, saying that the people of Wilkes-Barre and
it's surrounding cities need to wake up to this issue and oppose it. Said
letter was responded to on July 14th by the staff of The Citizens' Voice. A week or so later a Washington Post editorial regarding security cameras in Washington DC was published, in the Citizens' Voice. To date there have been no other official press releases regarding the proposed cameras.
Update:
On 9-14 and 9-15 the citizens' voice ran two articles which announced the plans
of Mayor Leighton for installation of surveillance cameras around the city. In
one article Leighton is quoted as saying "If you’re not doing anything
wrong, you shouldn't be worried about being watched." Well I am worried
about being watched, Mr. Leighton, I don’t want big brother in Wilkes-Barre,
I don't want a total surveillance police state.
Furthermore
the article went on to say how cameras will detour cruising and loitering. Give
me a break the WB police are going to be using cameras to watch people stand
around or drive around so that they can arrest and pounce upon them. It's
ridiculous, it is simply ridiculous. An older article from the same paper
quoted Leighton as saying how police will be able to use the cameras to
confiscate guns. Think about that spying on the public to take guns. What
happened to the Second Amendment or does that not apply any longer in Wilkes-Barre,
like it doesn’t anymore in New Orleans.
It has been stated by Leighton, councilmen, and the press that the reason for
installing the cameras is because of graffiti, how absurd is that, because of
graffiti an Orwellian nightmare is created, its madness. However there is the
problem of drugs in south Wilkes-Barre
but it's a fact, part of the public record that the drugs in America
are brought in by the CIA, that’s an admitted fact. So what happens is drugs
are brought in which brings about crime and thus secret police and surveillance
cameras can be installed, its nothing but madness. What I want to know is who's
getting the bid to install these cameras, and who are they being purchased
from. It’s admitted that federal funding will be used for this project, and I
want to know who’s pushing it. That’s it for now.
