E-mail
Print
The police won't get to watch patrons down beers at Shirley's Honey Hole after all.
Baltimore's police commissioner is planning to veto a condition worked out by the bar's owner and a city attorney that would have allowed law enforcement to monitor live video feeds from surveillance cameras inside the tavern, according to the department's chief spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi.
It was one of several concessions the owner, Shirley Barner, had agreed to this week to keep authorities from padlocking her business after a spate of shootings outside and accusations that drug dealers were using the vestibule to sell and store narcotics led police to label the bar a public nuisance.
The police spokesman said other parts of the settlement remain in force, including the requirements that Barner have cameras with tapes that last for four days, hire a security guard and shut down for all of October.
The idea that police, who already keep watch over the city's residents with more than 450 surveillance cameras aimed at public spaces, would soon be able to have live video access inside a bar raised concerns that government would start intruding deeper into people's personal lives and private activities than ever before.
Guglielmi said that after several days of review, Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III decided that the real-time video access to the interior of Shirley's Honey Hole, even with the owner's consent, raised concerns about liability and police resources that are already stretched thin.
Bealefeld ordered an aide Thursday to draft a new settlement agreement that will be presented to Barner and her attorney, possibly today. It will require Barner to turn over tapes of surveillance footage to police at their request, which was part of the original agreement, but Guglielmi said it "does not include the ability to remotely view real-time live film or any other images being captured by the security camera."
"It comes down to resources," Guglielmi said. "The Police Department cannot be a private security company for every bar in the city. That's not our job."
He also said that should officers monitoring feeds at the busy Citiwatch command center happen to tune into Shirley's Honey Hole and see someone do something wrong, "We'd have to act on it because we witnessed somebody commit a crime. We just don't have the resources to be everywhere." Police also feared the live feed could allow Barner to shift responsibility to the police for illegal activities inside her bar.
Melvin J. Kodenski, the attorney for Shirley's Honey Hole, said the new draft as described by a reporter is fine with him. Referring to the demise of the live video feed, he said, "If the Police Department can live without it, we aren't going to object."
Just how officials forged the original deal remained murky Thursday. Representatives from all sides spread the blame and suggested it bubbled up in the heat of plea discussions in a hallway outside a conference room at police headquarters moments before the padlock hearing was to begin.
Kodenski said police expressed concern that Barner keeps her tavern door locked and patrons have to be buzzed inside, and it was sometimes difficult for them to quickly and efficiently gain access to her tapes. Barner said she didn't object to the police accessing the video via the Internet or WiFi, and that led to discussions about working out a way for police to monitor the cameras in real time.
That Barner was agreeing to open her bar to constant police scrutiny as part of a plea deal raised questions as to whether she had voluntarily consented to the idea, as police had said on Monday. Both police and Barner's attorney disputed who first mentioned real-time surveillance.
"I'm not sure if it was anyone's idea," Kodenski said Thursday. "It seemed like a good idea and then later everyone thought of Big Brother."
Guglielmi agreed that the implications were "sort of glazed over" at the beginning.
Now, the spokesman said, the police commissioner believes that "it is not the place for government inside a private business."
Baltimore's police commissioner is planning to veto a condition worked out by the bar's owner and a city attorney that would have allowed law enforcement to monitor live video feeds from surveillance cameras inside the tavern, according to the department's chief spokesman, Anthony Guglielmi.
It was one of several concessions the owner, Shirley Barner, had agreed to this week to keep authorities from padlocking her business after a spate of shootings outside and accusations that drug dealers were using the vestibule to sell and store narcotics led police to label the bar a public nuisance.
The police spokesman said other parts of the settlement remain in force, including the requirements that Barner have cameras with tapes that last for four days, hire a security guard and shut down for all of October.
The idea that police, who already keep watch over the city's residents with more than 450 surveillance cameras aimed at public spaces, would soon be able to have live video access inside a bar raised concerns that government would start intruding deeper into people's personal lives and private activities than ever before.
Guglielmi said that after several days of review, Police Commissioner Frederick H. Bealefeld III decided that the real-time video access to the interior of Shirley's Honey Hole, even with the owner's consent, raised concerns about liability and police resources that are already stretched thin.
Bealefeld ordered an aide Thursday to draft a new settlement agreement that will be presented to Barner and her attorney, possibly today. It will require Barner to turn over tapes of surveillance footage to police at their request, which was part of the original agreement, but Guglielmi said it "does not include the ability to remotely view real-time live film or any other images being captured by the security camera."
"It comes down to resources," Guglielmi said. "The Police Department cannot be a private security company for every bar in the city. That's not our job."
He also said that should officers monitoring feeds at the busy Citiwatch command center happen to tune into Shirley's Honey Hole and see someone do something wrong, "We'd have to act on it because we witnessed somebody commit a crime. We just don't have the resources to be everywhere." Police also feared the live feed could allow Barner to shift responsibility to the police for illegal activities inside her bar.
Melvin J. Kodenski, the attorney for Shirley's Honey Hole, said the new draft as described by a reporter is fine with him. Referring to the demise of the live video feed, he said, "If the Police Department can live without it, we aren't going to object."
Just how officials forged the original deal remained murky Thursday. Representatives from all sides spread the blame and suggested it bubbled up in the heat of plea discussions in a hallway outside a conference room at police headquarters moments before the padlock hearing was to begin.
Kodenski said police expressed concern that Barner keeps her tavern door locked and patrons have to be buzzed inside, and it was sometimes difficult for them to quickly and efficiently gain access to her tapes. Barner said she didn't object to the police accessing the video via the Internet or WiFi, and that led to discussions about working out a way for police to monitor the cameras in real time.
That Barner was agreeing to open her bar to constant police scrutiny as part of a plea deal raised questions as to whether she had voluntarily consented to the idea, as police had said on Monday. Both police and Barner's attorney disputed who first mentioned real-time surveillance.
"I'm not sure if it was anyone's idea," Kodenski said Thursday. "It seemed like a good idea and then later everyone thought of Big Brother."
Guglielmi agreed that the implications were "sort of glazed over" at the beginning.
Now, the spokesman said, the police commissioner believes that "it is not the place for government inside a private business."
Digg
Twitter
Facebook
StumbleUpon
I nominate the Commissioner for governor and mayor.
sopho6971 (09/11/2009, 4:57 PM )