Citizens Against Public Surveillance Held A Protest Aug. 29 Demanding Accountability and the Removal of the City-Wide Private CCTV System.

VIDEO TAKEN BY OUR FRIEND CRAIG AT WEARECHANGE PHILLY
PART I

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PART II

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THE CONSTITUTION PARTY's JIM CLYMER RECEIVED SOME GOOD COVERAGE OF HIS SPEECH IN LOCAL NEWS.    UPDATES AND MORE LOCAL NEWS REPORTS OF THE PROTEST ARE POSTED

From China To Lancaster:  PA Congressional Candidate Takes Part in Lancaster Stop the Cameras Protest:

Jake Towne, 2010 candidate for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania's 15^th District, will be speaking about his experiences with camera surveillance while he was living abroad in communist China and how this camera system is a blatant violation of our rights as protected by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Towne's website is TowneForCongress.com.

Read his press release here:

UPDATE 8-27-09:

Constitution Party joins Stop The Cameras Effort: National Committee Chairman Clymer calls on Americans to join this fight.

We are so thankful for the support of the Constitution Party and want to remind everyone that this is indeed a most-pressing national issue. It's not just about Lancaster! Please read the press release that the CP national office sent out and join us to Stop the Cameras!

[ read the CP national press release ] 

ORIGINAL PRESS RELEASE:

August 29th, 2009 in Downtown Lancaster, PA
PRESS CONTACT: Renee Baumgartner 717-587-9054
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it     http://www.stopthecameras.com/

Lancaster Pa, August 24, 2009--The Citizens Against Public Surveillance (CAPS) is holding a large protest against the implementation of surveillance cameras deployed in Lancaster, PA, and is inviting all who want a voice in this matter to attend. CAPS is a recent offshoot of the Lancaster Coalition for Sensible Security (LCSS), and is organized to end the hasty deployment of the privately run, Orwellian surveillance system in a city of 55,000 people with a 25% poverty rate.

More information can be found at www.stopthecameras.com.

Renee' Baumgartner (CAPS) will speak in Lancaster Square, along with others that are concerned about the lack of accountability, oversight, and transparency for this system of 165 surveillance cameras. The system is designed to keep the public under constant general surveillance.

Recently, the group sparked a major uproar after it obtained documents from the City of Lancaster through the Open Records law. A copy of the documents was provided to the Lancaster Newspapers.
They reveal that Lancaster Newspapers has provided a $2 million no-interest loan to the Lancaster Community Safety Coalition, the private nonprofit that operates the system.

TROUBLING DISCOVERIES

To its credit, the newspaper performed a background check on LCSC employees, and found that one employee had been arrested multiple times for impersonating a public safety officer and also convicted for a similar crime. What some opposition members term “their worst nightmare” became a reality when it was noted that the employee was also charged with harassment after “waiting and following a Leola man on his way home from work, sending annoying e-mails and other methods of harassment”, as reported by the LNP. The group believes that someone in the LCSC should be held accountable.

CAPS believes that the lack of a system of accountability and good governance led to the hiring of inappropriate and poorly trained employees, putting the general public at significant risk. Given this, the group believes the cameras must be taken down immediately. Further, the group sees the City as setting a dangerous precedent by deploying cameras in such a way as to allow further abuse down the road. The cameras are blanketed throughout the town which makes it capable of following one wherever they go. CAPS says that these cameras (provided by Bosch) do not prevent crime and that this is really about public control. They believe the City must deal with this warrantless, poorly thought out, private surveillance responsibly and forcefully.

Concerns of conflict of interest include: a Bosch employee on the board of the LCSC, Bosch partnering with L-1 Identity Solutions (which prides itself in facial recognition software), Exec. Director of the company, Joe Morales being on the city council, and Mayor Gray's words: “I don't have the power” to bring down the cameras. These are issues that CAPS wants addressed.

Thanks to We Are Change Philadelphia for their help in organizing and promoting this event!