City, businesses want surveillance cameras in Savannah's squares

<p>The city of Savannah, an anti-crime group and local businesses are partnering to set up surveillance cameras in all of the city's trademark 22 colonial squares.</p><p>"We've got a huge amount of bad press because of the crime in Savannah," said Martin Sullivan, who founded the group Save Our Savannah in the aftermath of last year's fatal Christmas Eve shooting of a 19-year-old debutante in the city's famous downtown historic district.</p><p>Jennifer Ross was shot during a mugging near Orleans Square hours after attending her debutante ball, a slaying that triggered a public outcry for a crackdown on crime.</p><p>Since then, the group has been working on getting city and business funding to put surveillance cameras in the picturesque landscape of manicured squares, Spanish-moss draped live oaks and antebellum homes that make downtown Savannah one of the South's top tourism draws.</p><p>The overall project, including new lighting and running wires to the squares, could cost more than $1 million, said Sean Brandon, assistant to the city manager. The city would cover more than half of the cost, he said.</p><p>The rest could come from groups like Save Our Savannah and businesses like Piggly Wiggly, who already contributed $15,000 each for a camera on Reynolds Square that the group hopes will become a model.</p><p>Because each square is unique, the set-up would be different for each, with between one and four cameras to be posted on new lamps.</p><p>The cameras would serve a double purpose _ be a deterrent for criminals, and provide evidence should a crime occur. That pleases some residents and upsets some privacy groups.</p><p>While acknowledging she "isn't a Big Brother fan," Beatrice Archer, who lives on Crawford Square, said, "it's always good to have someone watching."</p><p>But Gerry Weber, legal director for the American Civil Liberties Union of Georgia, said that cameras would potentially make available to the general public the daily comings and goings of residents, violating their privacy.</p><p>He said that a spurned lover could request video of the home of a former boyfriend or girlfriend, and wondered how the city would dispose of the recordings. Brandon said the city would follow state regulations.</p><p>"I still don't see that as something that overrides the public safety issue," Brandon said.</p><p>At least one resident, Linda Anderson on Whitefield Square, agreed.</p><p>"People record your comings and goings anyway," she said. "They sit and look out the window at you."</p><p>___</p><p>HASH(0x1cdc868)</p>

http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/11/112359