Thread: Sheriff wants expansion of cameras near CA. border

Sheriff wants expansion of cameras near border

By Jeff McDonald, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at 12:02 a.m.

A network of government surveillance cameras dots the San Diego County coastline, where smugglers are increasingly turning to small boats and even surfboards to sneak migrant workers and illegal drugs into the country.

The surveillance system has been quietly run by a coalition of federal and local agencies. Now Sheriff William Gore wants the county to expand the network by negotiating a no-bid contract with FLIR Systems Inc., a private security company that supplies the cameras for the intergovernmental operation. The cameras have a 10-mile range.

News of the surveillance network worried officials from two San Diego advocacy groups, who fear that the Sheriff’s Department will step up its enforcement of federal immigration laws and erode the privacy rights of law-abiding citizens.

“By having the sheriff use the camera system, they are engaging in border enforcement, which is beyond their jurisdiction as a law enforcement agency,â€

Sheriff's Dept. To Receive Border Camera Grant

POSTED: 3:22 pm PST January 26, 2010
UPDATED: 3:24 pm PST January 26, 2010

SAN DIEGO -- The San Diego County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to spend $280,000 of federal grant money on a border security camera for the Sheriff's Department.

The money came to the county as part of a grant under Operation Stonegarden, a federal border security initiative, and will go to FLIR Inc. for a camera and microwave transmission system.

Similar cameras are already in service in the border area.

The one public speaker in opposition to the purchase, Pedro Rios of the American Friends Service Committee, said his organization feared the cameras would lead to racial profiling against border crossers and intrude on privacy. The AFSC opposes enforcement of immigration laws.

Sheriff William Gore said the cameras were necessary to prevent crimes such as trafficking of underage girls and women for prostitution.

In other action Tuesday, the board -- without comment -- earmarked a $100,000 state grant to reduce the number of juvenile criminal offenders to The Children's Initiative, a Pacific Beach-based charity run by former national "Teacher of the Year" Sandra McBrayer.

Three top county officials -- Chief Administrative Officer Walt Ekard, Chief Probation Officer Mack Jenkins and Nick Macchione, director of the Health and Human Services Agency -- sit on the nonprofit's board of directors.

According to The San Diego Union-Tribune, McBrayer sits on a state commission that awarded the grant to San Diego County.

http://www.10news.com/news/22348687/detail.html

Crime-spotting cameras for coast OK’d by county

January 27, 2010 at 12:01 a.m.

The network of security cameras that government agencies use to detect smuggling and other criminal activity will grow by two under a no-bid agreement approved by county supervisors yesterday.

Using grant money from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Sheriff’s Department sought and received permission to spend up to $280,000 to buy additional cameras to monitor the beaches and coastline.

“We are not targeting illegal immigrants in our community,â€

Better placement would be News so moved from Other Topics.

Originally Posted by jean

Better placement would be News so moved from Other Topics.

Thank You. No problem. I probably meant to put it there anyway.