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Traffic Surveillance Camera Legislation Reintroduced in Florida, CALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES The Florida Legislature have reintroduced several bills that will legalize the use of cameras at intersections in Florida for traffic code enforcement. This is currently ILLEGAL under Florida law, which is why they are trying to change the law. This article details the motives, players, and infrastructure behind this agenda. Traffic Surveillance Camera Legislation Reintroduced in FloridaCALL YOUR REPRESENTATIVES! Federal Jack Exclusive by Jack http://www.federaljack.com 01/09/2008 Pending legislation within the Florida legislature would legalize the use of surveillance cameras at intersections for traffic code enforcement. Currently, Florida law stipulates that an officer must observe an infraction in order for it to be enforceable. However, HB 351, a bill introduced into the Florida House of Representatives by Rep. Ron Reagan (R), and SB 816, a bill introduced into into the Florida Senate by Sen. Mike Bennet (R), both dubbed the Uniform Traffic Control "Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Program," would revise the Florida law in a way that would allow digital imagery to be utilized as evidence for the issuance of citations. The legislation is the latest incarnation of the "Mark Wandall Traffic Safety Program." The legislation has been killed before on both the House and Senate level, however Senate Transportation Committee Chairman Carey Baker (R-Eustis), who had previously been opposed to the legislation, has changed his opinion and is now in favor of the bill, giving it a better chance of becoming law. The implications of this legislation are massive, as it would be a significant incremental move forward into the total surveillance society. Various cities and counties all throughout Florida have been installing surveillance cameras within their intersections for the last several years. The City of Miami Gardens, and the City of Pembroke Pines have already awarded contracts to American Traffic Solutions, Inc. This is all in spite of the fact that the Florida law and the FDOT forbids the use of cameras for the enforcement of traffic violations. There is a nefarious reason for this, and it is that the local governments are fully confident that the Florida Legislature will change the law, at which point they will be able to collect revenue. Furthermore, there have been instances nationwide where the manufactures who install and maintain the camera system receive kickbacks on every citation issued. This creates an incentive to issue as many tickets as possible, and to calibrate the detection sensors to be as sensitive as possible. For some reason, the ACLU of Florida is not opposed to the use of red light cameras, a dramatic change from the position the national organization held in 2001, where they were opposed to the systems. A 2005 opinion issued from then Attorney General, and current Governor, Charlie Crist to the City of Pembroke Pines Attorney Samuel S. Goren regarding the use of their newly installed cameras stated that it would be unlawful for cameras to be utilized for the enforcement of State traffic codes without sanction from the state legislature. However, the cameras CAN be used to enforce city ordinance violations. This would mean that instead of a person receiving a ticket for running a red light, a violation of State traffic code, then the offender would receive a citation for not stopping behind the white line when coming to a stop, which is a city ordinance violation. The City of Pembroke Pines has also mulled over the possibilities of using the cameras to enforce the entire spectrum of city ordinances, from traffic to littering. They even speculated about hiding cameras on private land in order to usurp restrictions on the use of covert filming to enforce city ordinances. The technique of incrementalism is very important and readily apparent in this issue. Originally, when asked about the use for the cameras, Broward County said they are simply for traffic flow analysis. Now they want to be used for traffic violations and crime. Broward County's Request for Proposal (RFP) relating to the camera system posted on their website details the desired infrastructure of the system. The cameras are digital, and running on Windows 2003 servers utilizing the TCP/IP protocol. Since the cameras are already digital and running on a network, the addition of license plate scanning and /or facial recognition features would simply be a matter of installing software. How much longer before they put out an RFP for that? Tampa, FL already had a pilot program where the city's cameras were fitted with facial recognition software that ran off the DMV drivers license database. Anyone who came within view of the cameras had their faces scanned and were checked for outstanding warrants. That system was adopted after being tested at the 2001 Super Bowl. The system was discontinued after it led to zero arrests, and several false positives. The legislation is supported by city and county officials, such as Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, Jr., as evinced by a propaganda piece by NBC6 saying there were not enough surveillance cameras in Broward County. This article utilizes the Orwellian technique of doublethink, as residents of Broward County have noticed surveillance cameras popping up at virtually every intersection for the last three years. An intersection without a camera is harder to find than intersections with cameras in some areas. The pending legislation demonstrates how are predicting future revenue collections through remote law enforcement technologies. I urge everyone to call or e-mail their Florida representatives, and urge them to not support this Orwellian legislation. You can find out who your representatives are by visiting flsenate.gov and searching by zip code. Also call or e-mail the individuals listed below, they are the sponsors and supporters of this legislation. Let them know that you do not want Florida to turn into an Orwellian/Minority Report style nightmare. Senator Carey Baker (R-Eustin) - 1-888-567-5577 baker.carey.web@flsenate.gov Senator Michael S. Bennett (R-Brandenton) 1-800-500-1239 bennett.mike.web@flsenate.gov Representative Ron Reagan (R-Brandenton) 1-850-488-6341 E-mail form Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggelletion, Jr. (954) 357-7009 jeggelletion@broward.org
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