Baltimore Blues

It was a few years ago when I began working in Upper Marlboro that I first noticed it one evening. Heading northbound from I-97 approaching the Harbor Tunnel one has a sweeping view of Baltimore. Amid the glittering lights there were a couple of intensely blue sparkles. It might not catch your eye as there were only a few, and being football season I attributed it to someone displaying Ravens colors. A couple of months later I figured out that they were likely security cameras that the city had installed as part of their crime effort (article).

Last Thursday I attended the Vista launch in Washington so it was already night by the time I began the trek home. The city is now thoroughly punctuated with these neon-like blue points of light - even a casual observer would have to notice it now. It's a sad statement on how crime continues to plague cities like Baltimore, but even more distressing perhaps is this method of "combating" it. We continue to cede our privacy in frighteningly Orwellian ways, growing more accepting of government and industry's desire to monitor (and influence) our lives. While I can't define a solution to our crime problem, I really doubt that security cameras are going to offer any true security for our citizens. More likely they mainly offer security to our politicians who can point to them as tangible evidence of their concern for our safety at election time.