FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 29th, 2009 in Downtown Lancaster, PA
PRESS CONTACT: Renee Baumgartner 717-587-9054
info@stopthecameras.com
www.stopthecameras.com/
Lancaster Pa, August 24, 2009--The Citizens Against Public Surveillance (CAPS) is holding a large protest against the implementation of surveillance cameras deployed in Lancaster, PA, and is inviting all who want a voice in this matter to attend. CAPS is a recent offshoot of the Lancaster Coalition for Sensible Security (LCSS), and is organized to end the hasty deployment of the privately run, Orwellian surveillance system in a city of 55,000 people with a 25% poverty rate.
The CAPS protest will be held this Saturday at Farnum Park (Water & Conestoga Streets) at 1:00 pm on Saturday, August 29, 2009. The protesters will then march to Lancaster Square at 2:00 pm for the rest of their rally. The theme of the rally is - “Take the cameras down”.
Renee' Baumgartner (CAPS) will speak in Lancaster Square, along with others that are concerned about the lack of accountability, oversight, and transparency for this system of 165 surveillance cameras. The system is designed to keep the public under constant general surveillance.
Recently, the group sparked a major uproar after it obtained documents from the City of Lancaster through the Open Records law. A copy of the documents was provided to the Lancaster Newspapers.
They reveal that Lancaster Newspapers has provided a $2 million no-interest loan to the Lancaster Community Safety Coalition, the private nonprofit that operates the system.
TROUBLING DISCOVERIES
To its credit, the newspaper performed a background check on LCSC employees, and found that one employee had been arrested multiple times for impersonating a public safety officer and also convicted for a similar crime. What some opposition members term “their worst nightmare” became a reality when it was noted that the employee was also charged with harassment after “waiting and following a Leola man on his way home from work, sending annoying e-mails and other methods of harassment”, as reported by the LNP. The group believes that someone in the LCSC should be held accountable.
CAPS believes that the lack of a system of accountability and good governance led to the hiring of inappropriate and poorly trained employees, putting the general public at significant risk. Given this, the group believes the cameras must be taken down immediately. Further, the group sees the City as setting a dangerous precedent by deploying cameras in such a way as to allow further abuse down the road. The cameras are blanketed throughout the town which makes it capable of following one wherever they go. CAPS says that these cameras (provided by Bosch) do not prevent crime and that this is really about public control. They believe the City must deal with this warrantless, poorly thought out, private surveillance responsibly and forcefully.
Concerns of conflict of interest include: a Bosch employee on the board of the LCSC, Bosch partnering with L-1 Identity Solutions (which prides itself in facial recognition software), Exec. Director of the company, Joe Morales being on the city council, and Mayor Gray's words: “I don't have the power” to bring down the cameras. These are issues that CAPS wants addressed.
Thanks to We Are Change Philadelphia for their help in organizing and promoting this event!
UPDATE 8-28-09:
From China To Lancaster: PA Congressional Candidate Takes Part in Lancaster Stop the Cameras Protest:
Jake Towne, 2010 candidate for U.S. Congress in Pennsylvania's 15th District, will be speaking about his experiences with camera surveillance while he was living abroad in communist China and how this camera system is a blatant violation of our rights as protected by the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Towne's website is TowneForCongress.com.
UPDATE 8-27-09:
Constitution Party joins Stop The Cameras Effort: National Committee Chairman Clymer calls on Americans to join this fight.
We are so thankful for the support of the Constitution Party and want to remind everyone that this is indeed a most-pressing national issue. It's not just about Lancaster! Please read the press release that the CP national office sent out and join us to Stop the Cameras!
FOR RELEASE: 8-27-09
Contact: Mary Starrett, Constitution Party Communications Director
mstarrett@constitutionparty.com
602 315 6193
Groups in "Most Surveilled City" Say "No Spy Cameras!"
Lancaster, PA ( August 26,2009) The Constitution Party has joined a massive effort to stop the country's largest (per capita) "spy cam" program in this city of 55,000 . A protest is planned for Saturday, <http://www.stopthecameras.com/> August 29th . The event is gaining national attention as individuals and groups join forces to end an Orwellian surveillance camera program that tracks the movements of ordinary citizens as they move from place to place within the city limits.
"These cameras must come down. Social engineering and surveillance cannot be allowed to continue. What happens in one American city will surely spread, like a cancer to other cities unless we, the people, demand an end to it. This is a grave infringement on Americans' 4th Amendment rights", said Constitution Party National Committee Chairman Jim Clymer who will speak at the rally and march Saturday at 2:30 pm in Lancaster Square.
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons and papers shall not be violated" means what it says, added Clymer who noted "The Founding Fathers were clear that warrantless intrusions such as the network of Lancaster's city-wide cameras have no place in a free society".
Clymer will join Citizens Against Public Surveillance (CAPS), RepublicMedia.TV and a host of others committed to protecting Constitutional liberties in protesting the public-private partnership between Bosch, a global surveillance product manufacturer and the city of Lancaster.
RepublicMedia's Sam Ettaro who has been exposing under-reported issues with the network of surveillance cameras in Lancaster wrote: "Concerns of conflict of interest include a Bosch employee on the board of the private group that operates the camera system]... Executive Director of the company, Joe Morales' [who holds a] seat on the [Lancaster] city council". Ettaro has reported that the "Camera Monitor was FIRED after a background check revealed a history of harassment and impersonating public officials".
The on-going protests demand "the full removal of the surveillance system, investigation into conflicts of interest, funding sources, and the use of gathered video surveillance data".
WATCH THE MOST RECENT VIDEO EXPOSE AT www.republicmedia.tv.
Get involved and help us Stop the Cameras at www.stopthecameras.com
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The Constitution Party, the fastest-growing third party in the country today,(http://www.ballot-access.org/) works to restore government to its Constitutionally- defined limits. The CP's 2008 presidential candidate was endorsed <http://www.ronpaul.com/2008-09-23/ron-paul-endorses-chuck-baldwin-for-president/> by the 100% Constitutionally- correct Congressman Ron Paul .
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