‘Big Brother’? Honolulu Police Want to Double Surveillance for APEC
The Honolulu Police Department wants to install an extra 34 cameras around the island in advance of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in November, doubling the city’s surveillance capabilities.
Assistant Chief Greg Lefcourt said the cameras could serve as a “force multiplier” that would allow the department to make the most of its limited resources and still keep an eye on potential incidents during the weeklong conference. A Honolulu City Council committee on Tuesday advanced , which would cost some $1.5 million.
The city already has some 200 cameras installed, but Lefcourt told the Committee on Safety, Economic Development and Government Affairs Tuesday that 90 percent are dedicated to traffic.
Lefcourt said that when people know that there’s an area that’s being monitored, they’re less likely to break the law. He acknowledged that citizens have the constitutional right to assemble peaceably.
The funds would come from a variety of sources, including about $300,000 from a federal national security grant and another $175,000 via a gift from the Hawaii Tourism Authority. A number of city departments would share the remaining financial burden.
The costs would include a new monitoring system that would allow the city to monitor 50 cameras at a time, according to Department of Information Technology Director Gordon Bruce.
After APEC concludes, the cameras will be repurposed to improve traffic monitoring capabilities. Four of the cameras will remain permanently along Kuhio Avenue in Waikiki.
Safety, Economic Development and Government Affairs Committee Chair Tulsi Gabbard said she had some concerns about “Big Brother watching” — a reference to the dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four that portrays a bleak future where citizens are monitored around the clock and prosecuted for thought crimes. She said she hopes to balance the city’s desire to make sure APEC goes smoothly while also “making sure that the privacy of our residents is not inhibited in any way.”
Council member Stanley Chang pressed the police department to work with the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union to ensure that the program does not infringe on citizens’ privacy rights.
The administration was asked to provide the locations for the camera installations, and HPD said it will install signs identifying those locations and will also reach out to the community to let them know where the cameras will be.
The resolution will move to public hearing at the September meeting of the full Council, then come back to committee.
