MAC
09-24-2002, 06:48 PM
I always feel like somebody's watching me (http://www.miami.com/mld/miami/news/nation/4140996.htm)
Mall surveillance under spotlight
Taped beating shows parking lot cameras see more than shoplifting
By CHARLES LUNAN and LEIGH DYER
Charlotte Observer
When a young mother struck her 4-year-old daughter in a car parked outside a Kohl's department store in Indiana 10 days ago, she couldn't have picked a worse place.
Few areas are watched as closely these days as shopping centers and their parking lots, including in Charlotte and the Carolinas. Mall managers and retailers have made surveillance a key tool in their fight against shoplifting, auto theft and protection from frivolous lawsuits. And in the wake of the terrorist attacks, surveillance will only increase, experts said.
"Security is our No. 1 line item on our budget," said Ray Soporowski, general manager for Concord Mills and four other Southeast malls for Mills Corp. of Arlington, Va.
The mall opened in 1999 with a $500,000 video surveillance system, recently expanded to monitor its roof and underground supply tunnels in response to terrorist alerts.
Although cameras have been catching shoplifters and auto thieves in parking lots for years, privacy experts question whether most Americans understand they are being watched even after they leave a store.
"Maybe it's just going to be a wake-up call," said Kate Rears, editorial director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., a civil liberties advocacy group. "OK, when I'm in my car, maybe I don't have as much privacy as I thought I did."
On Monday in an Indiana court, Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 25, was arraigned on a felony charge of battery to a child, and a magistrate entered an innocent plea on her behalf.
The Sept. 13 video was recorded by a camera in a parking lot outside a Kohl's store in Mishawaka and shown repeatedly on national TV.
Her attorney said there was no point in trying to challenge the videotape.
"It is what it is," said Steven Rosen. "We will probably enter a guilty plea and throw ourselves on the mercy of the court."
Toogood's daughter, Martha, remains in foster care while child-protection officials review custody. A doctor examined the girl and found no medical problems and no long-term signs of abuse, authorities said.
"People might think I'm a monster, but I've been a mother for six years, and no harm has come to my children before this, never," Toogood, who faces up to three years in prison, told CNN earlier Monday. "I'm sorry. That's all I can say."
Local law enforcement could not recall any instances where retailers provided videotape showing domestic violence or child abuse. But officials said it's common for retailers and shopping centers to share tapes as police investigate crimes.
"It's not really common where they just catch something on tape like this," said Keith Bridges, community education director for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. "It just goes to show you the value of security cameras."
Last August, police arrested men at Eastland Mall on trespassing charges and found burglary tools inside their car after an employee spotted suspects cruising the parking lot at midnight. After calling Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, the employee followed the suspects with some of the 48 cameras installed in 1999 to monitor security, said General Manager Kevin McCluskey.
In the year after new cameras were installed in 1999, Eastland's parking-lot incidents dropped 33 percent, McCluskey said. An incident is defined as anything an officer has to fill out a report for, from shoplifting to lost children. In 2001, incidents dropped another 2 percent, and statistics are on track to show another 12 percent drop in 2002, he said.
Although the American Civil Liberties Union has no objection to cameras at potential terrorist targets, such as the U.S. Capitol, it is urging America to resist the impulse to install them in more public spaces. The ACLU warns that despite several examples of abuse of the monitoring, there is still no consensus in America as to how video surveillance should be restricted. It also points to studies indicating that cameras have had uneven success in deterring crime.
That worries people like John Piana, a Charlotte accountant.
"It's Big Brother coming," he said. "Because it's happening in little baby steps, everyone is really desensitized. Each and every day, a new camera is added somewhere."
At the Columbia Place mall in Columbia, General Manager Charles Gwinn is overseeing the installation of a 42-camera system as part of a multi-million dollar renovation.
Besides detecting crime, the system will allow mall security to spot medical emergencies, stranded motorists, lost children and even hazardous spills on the floor, said Gwinn.
"We are interested primarily in public safety," said Gwinn.
At Concord Mills, general manager Soporowski also sees it as a public safety tool. From a dimly lit room in the back of the mall, employees work round the clock monitoring feeds from 76 cameras, including several in the parking lot.
Cameras can be directed to follow a shoplifting suspect from a store, through the food court, out an exit, across the parking lot, into a car and even onto the entrance ramp for I-85.
"Is it foolproof?" asked Soporowski. "No. But having 76 more sets of eyes helps."
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for the safety of their customers and the control of their losses they installed scameras.
Ok, its their store and their policy.
Then they use these thigns to point out crimes being committed that do not pertain to their customers or their shrinkage....
infact there is apparently some kinda question as to the actuality of the beating....as in you can't see if she is actually hitting the kid....she could be hitting the seat next to it....
I don't know about this one.
Mall surveillance under spotlight
Taped beating shows parking lot cameras see more than shoplifting
By CHARLES LUNAN and LEIGH DYER
Charlotte Observer
When a young mother struck her 4-year-old daughter in a car parked outside a Kohl's department store in Indiana 10 days ago, she couldn't have picked a worse place.
Few areas are watched as closely these days as shopping centers and their parking lots, including in Charlotte and the Carolinas. Mall managers and retailers have made surveillance a key tool in their fight against shoplifting, auto theft and protection from frivolous lawsuits. And in the wake of the terrorist attacks, surveillance will only increase, experts said.
"Security is our No. 1 line item on our budget," said Ray Soporowski, general manager for Concord Mills and four other Southeast malls for Mills Corp. of Arlington, Va.
The mall opened in 1999 with a $500,000 video surveillance system, recently expanded to monitor its roof and underground supply tunnels in response to terrorist alerts.
Although cameras have been catching shoplifters and auto thieves in parking lots for years, privacy experts question whether most Americans understand they are being watched even after they leave a store.
"Maybe it's just going to be a wake-up call," said Kate Rears, editorial director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, D.C., a civil liberties advocacy group. "OK, when I'm in my car, maybe I don't have as much privacy as I thought I did."
On Monday in an Indiana court, Madelyne Gorman Toogood, 25, was arraigned on a felony charge of battery to a child, and a magistrate entered an innocent plea on her behalf.
The Sept. 13 video was recorded by a camera in a parking lot outside a Kohl's store in Mishawaka and shown repeatedly on national TV.
Her attorney said there was no point in trying to challenge the videotape.
"It is what it is," said Steven Rosen. "We will probably enter a guilty plea and throw ourselves on the mercy of the court."
Toogood's daughter, Martha, remains in foster care while child-protection officials review custody. A doctor examined the girl and found no medical problems and no long-term signs of abuse, authorities said.
"People might think I'm a monster, but I've been a mother for six years, and no harm has come to my children before this, never," Toogood, who faces up to three years in prison, told CNN earlier Monday. "I'm sorry. That's all I can say."
Local law enforcement could not recall any instances where retailers provided videotape showing domestic violence or child abuse. But officials said it's common for retailers and shopping centers to share tapes as police investigate crimes.
"It's not really common where they just catch something on tape like this," said Keith Bridges, community education director for the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. "It just goes to show you the value of security cameras."
Last August, police arrested men at Eastland Mall on trespassing charges and found burglary tools inside their car after an employee spotted suspects cruising the parking lot at midnight. After calling Charlotte-Mecklenburg police, the employee followed the suspects with some of the 48 cameras installed in 1999 to monitor security, said General Manager Kevin McCluskey.
In the year after new cameras were installed in 1999, Eastland's parking-lot incidents dropped 33 percent, McCluskey said. An incident is defined as anything an officer has to fill out a report for, from shoplifting to lost children. In 2001, incidents dropped another 2 percent, and statistics are on track to show another 12 percent drop in 2002, he said.
Although the American Civil Liberties Union has no objection to cameras at potential terrorist targets, such as the U.S. Capitol, it is urging America to resist the impulse to install them in more public spaces. The ACLU warns that despite several examples of abuse of the monitoring, there is still no consensus in America as to how video surveillance should be restricted. It also points to studies indicating that cameras have had uneven success in deterring crime.
That worries people like John Piana, a Charlotte accountant.
"It's Big Brother coming," he said. "Because it's happening in little baby steps, everyone is really desensitized. Each and every day, a new camera is added somewhere."
At the Columbia Place mall in Columbia, General Manager Charles Gwinn is overseeing the installation of a 42-camera system as part of a multi-million dollar renovation.
Besides detecting crime, the system will allow mall security to spot medical emergencies, stranded motorists, lost children and even hazardous spills on the floor, said Gwinn.
"We are interested primarily in public safety," said Gwinn.
At Concord Mills, general manager Soporowski also sees it as a public safety tool. From a dimly lit room in the back of the mall, employees work round the clock monitoring feeds from 76 cameras, including several in the parking lot.
Cameras can be directed to follow a shoplifting suspect from a store, through the food court, out an exit, across the parking lot, into a car and even onto the entrance ramp for I-85.
"Is it foolproof?" asked Soporowski. "No. But having 76 more sets of eyes helps."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
for the safety of their customers and the control of their losses they installed scameras.
Ok, its their store and their policy.
Then they use these thigns to point out crimes being committed that do not pertain to their customers or their shrinkage....
infact there is apparently some kinda question as to the actuality of the beating....as in you can't see if she is actually hitting the kid....she could be hitting the seat next to it....
I don't know about this one.