Photo by Craig FritzTribune

Tribune

David Roybal, a traffic technician at the state Transportation Management Center walks back to his chair past screens that monitor traffic on I-25 and I-40. These live video feeds represent just a small fraction of the cameras public safety officials use to keep an eye on Albuquerque.

Photo by Charlotte Hill CobbTribune

Tribune

Taxes support more than 300 cameras in Albuquerque at locations including senior centers, courthouses, major intersections, the City/County Building, the University of New Mexico campus, throughout Albuquerque Public Schools, and all along I-25 and I-40. Privately owned cameras are posted at almost every convenience store, such as 7-Eleven and Walgreens, and big box retailers, such as Home Depot, Wal-Mart and Target.

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Cameras with the power to zoom in and identify what's in a pedestrian's hand will soon be aimed at the heart of Albuquerque's public space — Civic Plaza.

Using $80,000 from the federal Homeland Security Department, the city is preparing to install a first round of cameras to monitor and record activity at the plaza and sidewalks around the City/County Building and police headquarters.

The cameras will allow security officers to intervene before "hazards" reach the important buildings, city security chief Mark Shepherd said.

But even if you don't ever visit Civic Plaza, the City/County Building or the Police Department, it's likely you will appear on some sort of video camera.

All of I-25 and I-40 are monitored during the workweek for traffic problems; they are not recorded or accessed by police.

Almost all of the public schools have some level of surveillance cameras.

The Albuquerque Police Department occasionally monitors activity Downtown with a camera posted at Fourth Street and Central Avenue, particularly when crowds gather for special events.

In all, the city operates and monitors 230 cameras.

With red-light cameras and security cameras at courthouses and the Albuquerque International Sunport added to the list, the number of publicly funded cameras in the city easily jumps to more than 350.

And many private businesses deploy video surveillance, including Wal-Mart, Target, Home Depot, Walgreens and convenience stores.

While the list alarms some privacy advocates, Albuquerque's public surveillance pales in comparison with cameras and plans for cameras in other states and overseas.

Officials in New York City are considering installing 3,000 cameras in Manhattan, newspapers there report.

According to a recent report by the American Civil Liberties Union chapters in California, Great Britain's security department monitors 4 million cameras.

The ACLU argues that cameras, even 4 million of them, don't make communities safer. Instead, they make people nervous about participating in political gatherings.

"Cameras of that nature (at Civic Plaza) will necessarily have an oppressive effect on people's willingness to take part in gatherings that take opposition to the government policies," Peter Simonson, executive director of ACLU New Mexico, said. "The bottom line is that the evidence shows that we sacrifice a great deal of anonymity and, consequently, freedom in return for negligible improvements in public safety."

APD spokesman John Walsh said video surveillance tapes from private businesses often help police solve crimes, thus making the community safer.

"We utilize video cameras in the same fashion as any of the stores or malls or commercial areas, so that if a crime occurs, it is another possible forensic method in which to identify a potential suspect," Walsh said.

Surveillance cameras at schools have helped police identify vandals.

Shepherd said the planned Civic Plaza cameras, which will save data for 30 days, will help his security staff stop attacks before they reach the City/County Building.

"We want to put them on the perimeter sidewalks of the buildings so we can hopefully monitor more closely activity before it gets to our building," Shepherd said.

He plans to seek more funds to increase the number of cameras posted around the building and possibly watch activity from Civic Plaza north on Fourth Street to Lomas Boulevard.

His staff monitors 230 stationary cameras aimed mostly at business being done within city buildings, museums, the transit center, senior centers and waste sites.