Web tools Bookmark Forums Print this Email this ZOOM MICHAEL C. WEIMAR/The Gainesville Sun A pedestrian passes near the traffic monitoring camera at the corner of W. University Avenue and NW 13th Street.

Critics worry about the government's expanded surveillance powers under the Patriot Act.

trapped 30 feet high onto a traffic signal mast and overlooking the intersection of W. University Avenue and 13th Street, the white-domed cyclops is fairly inconspicuous. So are two other domed traffic-monitoring cameras mounted at SW 13th Street corners - SW 2nd Avenue and Museum Road.

In another time, Beth Scrivener and others say, they might not have given a second thought to the cameras. But since enactment of the USA Patriot Act in the month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Scrivener said, the government's use of any device to keep an eye on people is cause for concern.

"There probably would not have been the concern over the cameras before that there is with the Patriot Act in place," Scrivener said. "That's because the USA Patriot Act has provisions in direct contradiction of the Constitution.

"And those of us over 40 lived through a time when the government abused information they obtained," she said.

Scrivener is a member of a newly formed committee of the Community Coalition Against War and Terrorism to study how the traffic cameras will be used. Members of C-CAWT, as it is called, routinely gather in anti-war and other protest demonstrations on the corners of W. University Avenue and 13th Street, and they say the presence of a camera at that intersection is especially alarming.

"There's a lot of concern about cameras at 'protest corner,' " said Miriam Welly Elliott, whose anti-war activism dates to the Vietnam War. "A lot of people's anxieties are tied into the Patriot Act . . . and its eroding of civil liberties."

Critics say the broad powers of the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act infringe on the Bill of Rights. Among its provisions is an expansion of the government's surveillance authority, including monitoring individuals' telephone calls and Internet activity, and searching homes without warrants.

Its definition of a terrorist group, Elliott said, could include nonviolent anti-war activists.

"Some people worry about their job security when they participate in demonstrations," she said. "When you add the potential of filming, when someone could prove you were out there, what kind of effect will that have on people's willingness to participate?"

Local traffic and law enforcement officials, however, say the cameras are designed strictly for monitoring traffic flow, not for spying.

"I know of no way the police could use (traffic-camera images) other than them coming and looking at the screen in our office," said Brian Kanely, transportation services manager for the City of Gainesville, whose office is responsible for maintaining traffic signals and the cameras. "I know of no plan to hardwire the camera system to (the Gainesville Police Department or Alachua County Sheriff's Office)."

The $30,000 camera system is part of a $1.1 million Florida Department of Transportation upgrade of traffic signals on W. 13th Street. When the three cameras become operational in two to four weeks, Kanely said, the only place where their live images can be viewed will be in the traffic engineering office at the Thomas Center.

Kanely said the digital cameras could be upgraded to record the images they capture, "but currently we don't have the equipment to be able to record. Whether or not we would in the future, I don't know."

He said one potential scenario he could see for utilizing recording capability would be for follow-up review of traffic-control strategies during a University of Florida football game. He said the cameras have the ability to pan, tilt and zoom, functions that would allow traffic officials to assess movement on streets entering the intersection and adjust the computerized signal system as traffic warrants.

As for potential use of the cameras to enforce traffic laws, Phil Mann, a traffic engineer with the city, has said that Florida law prohibits traffic cameras from being used for law enforcement - such as catching motorists who run red lights.

Gainesville Police spokesman Cpl. Art Atkins said the police have no interest in the traffic-monitoring cameras.

"We have no plans for those cameras because they're not ours," he said.

Lt. Jim Troiano of the Alachua County Sheriff's Office said he has been told that the cameras are "strictly for traffic monitoring."

Scrivener said her committee plans to meet in a couple of weeks with traffic and law enforcement officials about the cameras.

Although she feels comfortable that no "negative use" is intended for the cameras locally, she said, it's the levels of law enforcement higher up that concern her.

"I don't think the local municipality can assure us that the cameras won't be used for surveillance of activists," she said. "I personally don't feel municipalities have control over what their ultimate use will be."

Elliott said that in her years of activism, she's gotten used to being scrutinized at demonstrations.

"I'm quite accustomed to being photographed at events and having authorities take down my tag number," she said. "But I think the Patriot Act adds a whole new dimension to that."

Bob Arndorfer can be reached at (352) 374-5042 or arndorb@gvillesun.com.