Palm Springs Getting Surveillance Cameras; Not Everyone Smiling

Strollers on downtown streets in this vacation mecca may get a surprise next time they gaze up at the desert sky: Someone may be gazing back.

Trendy Palm Canyon Drive, a tourist favorite prowled by everyone from Hollywood’s elite to bikers from Reseda, is about to get a battery of police surveillance cameras to keep an eye on the millions who visit each year.

The city hopes the cameras will reduce crime along the bustling strip of shops, bars and restaurants. But the decision has infuriated some residents and tourists who consider the cameras an intolerable invasion of privacy.

The controversy has spilled over into campaigns in the upcoming local election, in which the two City Council members who voted against the cameras have been accused of being soft on crime.

“The main priority of government is to defend and protect the citizens,” said telecommunications executive Jim Franklin, a political newcomer running for the five-member council. “I don’t think a few cameras is a big price to pay for that.”

The additional security will also help alleviate nervousness and fear created by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and on the Pentagon, and by FBI warnings of other possible attacks, he said.

Police surveillance cameras, which first appeared in England and elsewhere in Europe, have become more popular in U.S. cities in recent years. Authorities in Oakland; Tampa, Fla.; Virginia Beach, Va.; and Memphis, Tenn., have reported the cameras to be an effective crime-fighting tool.

However, Palm Springs Councilman Ron Oden fears that the cameras may only prompt criminals to move a few blocks from Palm Canyon Drive--out of view. He also worries about the message the devices might send to tourists, since the downtown area will be posted with signs warning that it is under surveillance.

About 25% of the crime in Palm Springs occurs downtown, although violent crime in the area is rare, said Sgt. Mitch Spike of the Palms Springs Police Department. Vandalism, shoplifting, disorderly conduct and other nonviolent crimes account for many of the reports, he said.

“We’re not a high-crime city, so it really doesn’t make too much sense,” Oden said. The No. 1 concern of tourists, especially those from Europe, is safety, so putting up cameras sends the inaccurate message that the city isn’t safe, he said.

Mostly, though, Oden considers the project an infringement on people’s basic freedoms and expressed concern over who would have access to the recordings from the cameras.

“We have to make sure that the recent terrorist attacks don’t make us lose the basic freedoms we fought for and are known for,” Oden said.

The City Council approved the surveillance system 3 to 2 in June, after it received a $65,000 state technology grant to pay for the cameras. The proposal comes up for another vote in November, when the council will consider purchasing the necessary transmission equipment.

City Manager David H. Ready said the surveillance system has been unfairly criticized as the beginning of an Orwellian age. He calls the project more of a “little friend” than a “Big Brother.”

Feeds from the 14 cameras will be transmitted to the Police Department’s dispatch center. They will not be monitored by officers full time, but dispatchers will be able to use the cameras to zoom in on areas where a crime or other problem has been reported, Ready said. The recordings will be kept for 90 days and will be released from police custody only under court orders, he said.

“The whole idea is to give people a higher level of security so they can enjoy themselves,” Ready said. “The reality is: We can’t afford to put an officer on every street corner.”

Adding four police officers to patrol the area 24 hours a day would cost the city more than $2.5 million a year, according to police and city officials.

“These cameras are a great idea. I’m more than willing to give up a little privacy to be safe,” said Lin Kern of Gettysburg, Pa., who was strolling downtown Palm Springs with his wife. “It’s time people started getting smart about things like this.”

Ulrich Callhof, owner of Ugly Sister’s Bistro, said downtown businesses are constantly plagued by vandals, petty crime and drunk and unruly tourists.

Last week, someone shattered a window at his cafe and used the side alley as a public urinal. Next door, a worker at a T-shirt shop was robbed at gunpoint three months ago.

“Palms Springs is not as stylish as it sells itself,” said Callhof, a big supporter of the police cameras. “Someone needs to keep an eye on these people.”

But Michael Paul, who rode into town Thursday on his Harley for the annual Bikers Weekend, was outraged when he heard that cameras might soon be watching.

“That’s totally crazy. We might as well live in Communist Russia,” said Paul, who belongs to a motorcycle group in the San Fernando Valley.

“If we don’t speak up, and speak up now, they’re going to start putting cameras up in our backyard and start tapping our phones.”