By Christina Pazzanese, The Boston Globe
Chinatown residents and business owners have demanded and finally gotten some answers about how a security plan unveiled by the Boston Police Department last month will work.
The department intends to put up 17 digital cameras first used during the Democratic National Convention at key crime “hot spots” in Chinatown beginning Feb. 1. Police envision the surveillance system as a way to slow the area’s rising crime rate and to deter criminals, particularly crack cocaine dealers, prostitutes, and homeless people. If effective, they hope to install cameras in other parts of the city.
Although the plan has widespread neighborhood support, some residents have voiced concern about the potential for civil rights abuses and worry that cameras might simply drive criminals to other parts of the neighborhood.
“I think the residents are generally in favor of the cameras,” said William Moy, head of the Chinatown/South Cove Neighborhood Council. “One thing they’d like to see is more cameras in the residential area.”
After police issued a preliminary map, based on recommendations from drug unit officers, that placed most of the cameras in the commercial district, police Superintendent James Claiborne and Captain Bernard O’Rourke told the Chinatown Safety Committee at a Dec. 16 meeting that they’d be willing to revise the map based on community input..
A group of 13 volunteers will walk the neighborhood with police in early January to point out other areas that concern them and to get a demonstration of the surveillance system.
“People don’t feel safe in their neighborhood and feel trading off some privacy for safety is worth it,” said William Ho, a community organizer for the Asian Community Development Corp. “People have been frustrated with the police in the past,” said Ho. “They were sick of hearing the same argument [to call 911]. They see the city investing in the community a bit.”
The Police Department’s legal team has drafted a set of rules for how the surveillance system will be used and by whom. Among the stipulations is that the cameras cannot target any specific racial or ethnic group, gender, or people with a particular sexual orientation.
Also, the police internal affairs department will check the videotapes periodically to make sure officers are not “abusing” the system, said Claiborne. “Only certain trained, authorized officers” will have access to the system, which will track who logs on, how long it’s used, and what the user looked at, he said.
“Justifiably so, people are very concerned about this department violating the civil rights of its citizens,” Claiborne said. “We’re not going to see anything on our cameras you can’t see on the streets of Chinatown. We’re not going to peer into places where there’s a reasonable expectation of privacy.”
Between six and eight wireless cameras will go up first at intersections such as Stuart and Tremont streets, Kneeland and Washington streets, and Oak Street and Harrison Avenue. The wireless cameras will be moved regularly to catch criminals off guard, O’Rourke said.
More complicated and costly, nine fixed cameras will go up once funding becomes available, O’Rourke said. Police hope to have the entire system up and running by early spring.
Cameras will run 24 hours a day, but they will not be constantly monitored, Claiborne said. Instead, one officer will watch the monitors on weekend nights and during drug sweeps. If an apparent crime happens within camera range, the monitoring officer would alert officers on patrol. More likely, however, is that videotapes will be used to help identify suspects after a crime has occurred.
Some residents say that the cameras are not enough. “They really worry that after [police] install the cameras, they won’t do any more,” said Karen Chen, a staffer at Chinatown Progressive Association, a grass-roots group.
Police have promised the cameras will not take the place of officers on the streets. In fact, Chinatown will get more patrols beginning in mid-April, when a class of new recruits graduates from the police academy, Claiborne said.