THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 20, 1995 TAG: 9501200010
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A12 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
George Orwell's horrific novel Nineteen Eighty-Four predicted that all of us would be watched all the time by ``Big Brother,'' meaning the government.
In the novel, everyone's apartment has a telescreen that receives and transmits simultaneously. As people watch it, the government's Thought Police watch and listen to them. The telescreen cannot be turned off.
Orwell wrote, ``You had to live - did live, from habit that became instinct - in the assumption that every sound you made was overheard, and, except in darkness, every movement scrutinized.''
Privacy was the enemy of the state, so none was allowed.
It turns out, however, that George Orwell may have had it wrong. It might not be Big Brother that watches us; it could be our neighbors.
Some residents of Shea Terrace, at the end of Scotts Creek in Portsmouth, have set up at least four video cameras in homes overlooking key corners and routes into and out of the small neighborhood. If you pass that way, there's a good chance you will be captured on tape, without your knowing it.
The idea for the cameras came from a resident whose home had been burglarized several times - not just once or twice.
A burglary is more than the theft of items from your home - though that's bad enough. A burglary means a stranger was in your home, thumbing through your personal items. It means your home is not safe: The burglar might have been there when you got home. A burglary means your home is not yours alone.
To say the least, a single burglary is unsettling. Repeated burglaries make a person very fearful of returning to his or her own home.
Other Shea Terrace residents had been burglarized over the past six months, so the local civic league jumped at the idea of setting up the cameras. So far, they've led to the arrest of one 18-year-old burglary suspect.
What were the residents supposed to do? Whatever was being done to protect the homes clearly was not enough. Perhaps now that the cameras' existence is known, burglars will steer clear of Shea Terrace.
In the hands of a busybody, a video camera easily could invade neighbors' privacy. Many a neighborhood has one person who seems to stay up nights reading the city code, looking for violations to report - maybe a neighbor's lawn has grown an inch too high. When such a person moves away, remaining residents celebrate their newfound freedom.
One hopes the video cameras will remain aimed at public areas - and not into others' back yards, where they might record actions that are nobody else's business.
The Shea Terrace residents' intent is not to spy on one another but to protect one another. The times call for creative solutions, and the Shea Terrace residents were creative.
In the beating of Rodney King in Los Angeles, police were shown on tape repeatedly striking King after he was down. Surely police will long remember that their actions can be videotaped at any time.
Burglars should think of Shea Terrace as Portsmouth's Hollywood, where a film is being made in which they had better not appear. by CNB