80 Eyes on 2,400 People (HSD cameras in Alaskan town)

[Rose Siding]

DILLINGHAM, Alaska — From Anchorage it takes 90 minutes on a propeller plane to reach this fishing village on the state's southwestern edge, a place where some people still make raincoats out of walrus intestine.

This is the Alaskan bush at its most remote. Here, tundra meets sea, and sea turns to ice for half the year. Scattered, almost hidden, in the terrain are some of the most isolated communities on American soil. People choose to live in outposts like Dillingham (pop. 2,400) for that reason: to be left alone.
...
By mid-February, more than 60 cameras watched over the town, and the Dillingham Police Department plans to install 20 more — all purchased through a $202,000 Homeland Security grant meant primarily to defend against a terrorist attack.
...
Roberts, mayor of Dillingham from 1972 to 1978, says the cameras constitute an invasion of privacy, and beyond that, they're just plain creepy..........He looks out at Nushagak Bay, which remains frozen until the end of April. No boat can enter or leave the harbor until the ice breaks up. He shakes his head. "This is Dillingham, Alaska, folks," he says. "I don't think we have to worry about Osama bin Laden."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-secure28mar28,0,3284078.story?coll=la-home-headlines

[babylonsister]

1. Unbelievably dumb. No one could think of a better use

for those funds? I'd be totally paranoid if I lived there.

[Billy Burnett]

2. Just watch, they'll outsource the monitoring to India or China.

This crap is coming to Miami also.

[fshrink]

3. The DPD brains musta thought, well,

no more need to get out in the cold, start the damn car and drive around on those slick streets. We got this money, so le'ts buy ourselves these toys.
"Terrorism" is to politics and administrations what "white" is to washing powder.

[Gman]

4. Slowly, surely and in a very sneaky manner

we move, almost imperceptibly toward totalitarianism by the RW. Object and they say, "If you're not doing anything, what are you afraid of? Soon we will be meeting in groups no larger than two and whipering under our breath. Larger groups will meet under cover of darkness in store backrooms with someone always on the lookout.

[meegbear]

5. Holy Bridge to Nowhere Batman!

What is with Alaska and bizarre projects?

[rman]

6. So the mayor has no control over the town's police force?

Isn't that a bit odd?

[TrogL]

7. Who owns the camera company?

How was the contract awarded?

Follow the money.

[jseankil]

8. 1 camera for every 30 people. Just implant GPS chips on everyone /nm

This is such a fucking waste of money.

[LiberalFighter]

9. Terrorists intent on attacking the United States could...

Terrorists intent on attacking the United States could, he says, "backdoor it" through a nowhere dot on the tundra just like Dillingham.

Claims Police Chief Richard Thompson

What an idiot!!

I guess terrorists from a desert country would backdoor a frozen tundra. Brilliant!! Brilliant!!