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The proposed ordinance was introduced earlier this year by city
lawmakers after a West Side store worker was shot and killed
while on the job at an establishment where security cameras were
inoperable. The measure would require companies to maintain
surveillance that covers all entrances and exits, including
public sidewalks near doors and parking lots.
“Once again, we're being told that more cameras in Chicago will
equal more public-safety and the math just simply doesn't add
up,” Yohnka told The City Square. “Since the early 2000s,
Chicago has added an integrated surveillance camera system of
upwards of 80,000 cameras and none of those cameras have ever
yielded the promised public safety.”
Yohnka said public safety is not created by more surveillance.
“A business has a right to decide whether or not they want to
create a surveillance web around their business for their
clients and customers,” he said.
Yohnka also took offense to a provision in the measure that
would give the Chicago Police Department added subpoena power by
stipulating that businesses have to maintain recordings for at
least seven days and provide the footage to any local, state or
federal law enforcement agency that subpoenas any of it within
21 days.
“This particular measure would have granted independent subpoena
power to the Chicago Police Department to gain access to video,”
he said. “That's something the Chicago Police Department has
never had and frankly given the history of Chicago's police in
terms of abusing powers, this doesn't seem like a very good
idea. I mean every business in Chicago that wants to have a
surveillance camera system already has one. I don't know what
the benefit is of forcing people who've opted against something
to spend the money to opt in.”
In the end, Yohnka said that the overall value of security
cameras in Chicago has long been oversold, arguing that data
shows such video is rarely used to actually convict anyone of a
crime.
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