~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SANDY SANDFORT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . C'punks, Michael Crawford wrote about my article in the December '94 issue of Wired, ("Watching the Detectives", p. 141): ... The advantage for society is that the cop's behaviour, such as billy-club swinging velocity, can be monitored. It could detect gunfire, too, ... This would work to the extent that the equipment is actually mounted on the cop it claims to belong to, so some manner of authentication would be needed. Fleming told me that the localizers would also take biometric readings to monitor the cop's physical status. It turns out that individual biometric readings vary significantly from person to person. It would be very hard for one cop (or a dog, suspect, whatever) to pose as someone else by wearing his localizer. ... Yes, that's right - keep surveillance cameras going on _yourself_. If you're not doing anything illegal, you've got nothing to fear from taping everything you do. I don't like this idea one bit. I agree with Tim that it is the first step on a very slippery slope. ... I expect that it will be difficult to convince our Nation's Finest to adopt this new technology - though I'm sure they'd be happy to apply it to parolees and those serving on probation.... It would be difficult for the cops to reject it. After all, it definitely benefits vast majority of good cops. It only hurts that teensy-tiny minority who violate people's rights. Right? Michael also argued that it might be more easily sold to private security firms for legal liability reasons. This argument is even more persuasive for police officers. Cities routinely pay astronomical settlements, or fight expensive law suits, arising out of alleged incidents of police misconduct. Frivolous lawsuits would be quickly thrown out of court. Rogue cops would be identified and thrown off the force. Works for me. S a n d y ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~