Consider, Municipal

Paranoia?

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Did you read the News story about using the helicopter in catching a stolen car? I did and really did not spare another thought to the matter, except the thought that a helicopter is useful for following and guiding ground units to avoid the need for high speed chases to catch criminals in vehicles.

Until I was standing near the Salvation Army watching the helicopter circle time after time, six, seven, eight times… just up there watching. Then a member of the homeless community told me about the ‘copter seeming to follow him as he walked from the Salvation Army to Wal-Mart. It just sat there hovering, as if waiting for him to come running out of the store after stealing something. After all, every police officer knows if you need to be dealing with the Salvation Army or are a member of the homeless community, you belong to a class of people who are doing (or will be doing) something illegal.

This got me thinking about the privacy questions and issues raised by not only the helicopter, but by the technology available to “law enforcement” in general. Think about it. How often is something like the ‘copter needed to accomplish a specific purpose or task? What is it doing the rest of the time? It spends the vast majority of its air time just sitting up there, providing a bird’s eye view to peep at everyone and anyone.

If you raised this point with the Abbotsford police department I am sure they will have fine words to reassure the public and spin this spying as not something the public needs “bother their non-police heads” about. Trust us. I admit that my view is coloured by my experiences with the police interactions with the homeless community. After all, it is far easier to spot an illegal tent in the woods from above that it is to notice actual property theft crimes. Which reflects why so much police time is wasted moving along the homeless, while the only reason to report stolen property is to obtain a police file number for insurance claim purposes. As if the police cannot waste enough resources harassing the homeless enough from the ground, they now can do it from the air.

You cannot UN-invent the ‘copter, besides which it has some very useful purposes. However, it also has a large potential for misuse and raises some very Orwellian questions concerning its “big brother is watching” abilities. We need to address these issues not by burying our heads in the sand but by thinking about and putting in place safeguards to protect the publics right to Privacy.

We need clear policies and guidelines designed to protect us from any unreasonable spying, protecting our right to, and expectations of, reasonable privacy. We also need some way to provide “encouragement” for obedience to these guidelines.

Based on my experiences of the way the police behave towards the homeless, the feedback I have gotten from members of the general public about their interactions with our local police force and the privacy protection issues technology is raising I think that it is time the general public had input into police behaviour and some influence on police priorities. This is why I believe that the citizens of Abbotsford must exert civilian control over our police department. The way to do this is with a civilian board overseeing the department and civilian review of police actions and complaints against the members of the Abbotsford Police Department.

PS it is back again this weekend and behaving in the annoying manner of one of thyose people who insist on looking over your shoulder constantly to read what you are reading or see what you are doing – it is just with the their great height there are many more shoulders for them to look over.

Municipal

News: new information

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Question of the Week: “Do you think the Legacy Plan to build several new Abbotsford projects, including a multiplex facility, will be approved when it is finally put to a public vote?

Could you have asked a more banal question? Frankly I cannot think of a more pointless question on this matter. Especially in light of the quote in your paper of the same date (Tuesday August 1) about “… the referendum is not about whether these projects will happen”. With all the issues that this quote raises, you considered the question of approval germane? Because if a yes or no vote does not really matter, then is not the question of approval moot? Now questions about what Mr. Beck’s statement implies about the City administration’s and Council’s attitude to the wants, needs or opinions of the citizens would be news worthy.

While on the subject of the city’s capital plans I would like to enquire why the News has failed to address

Since I have raised the subject of pointless behaviour, why choose to waste valuable editorial space on an opinion about another moot point, as you did with the “opinion” piece on the strike by city staff? If the News had chosen to print that piece earlier it would have been an opinion. Now it is just old news, although it does serve to underline the questions raised by the fact that during the strike the News chose to print only letters portraying CUPE as poor, under paid, misunderstood victims of terrible HR policies on the part of the city. I find it extremely hard to believe that no taxpayers wrote in to suggest that if they did not like their overly generous salaries, they should quit and let someone familiar with the real world enjoy the wages and benefits.

Vibrant communities need ideas and vision. A curious, undaunted local paper is needed to give voice to questions, facts, opinions, discussion and happenings around the city and in local politics. If you are going to claim to be the “news leader”: less drivel, more hard news, asking the hard questions, timely positions and opinions, a willingness to charge Hell with just a water bucket if necessary and above all the desire to engage your readers in their community issues and decisions.

Homeless

Real Coffee! Thanks Starbucks!

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Sometimes the best laid plans …. You may recall that I felt that the good people at the Open Door Seventh Day Adventist church deserved special praise for the effort they made during this summer to keep their commitment to providing Sunday lunch to the homeless and hungry. Even to the point of a grown son turning to his mother to cover for him and serve Sunday lunch. No matter how old a child is still a child and a mother is forever your MOM.

This week the keeper of the coffee urn was away on holiday. In preparation for this he provided a house key for access to the coffee urn. However, he did forget one little thing, a sad fact of modern life, – the alarm code. I am afraid that when I see him I will have to give him a ribbing about the “trust issues” inherent in this oversight.

Be that as it may, the outcome was that those in charge of lunch Sunday found themselves without the ability to brew coffee. Among those they serve lunch to on Sunday I for one am willing to acknowledge my coffee addiction and I am not alone in my need for Java. Most fortunately a local coffee franchise stepped in to provide not just coffee but REAL coffee.

Starbucks donated the coffee, real actual cream (a nice treat), cups, stir sticks and provided the container to serve the hot coffee from. A nice BIG container so we all could have more than one cup and those of us with the need could sate our desire for caffeine with extra servings of a most excellent brew. Yummy! Not to mention the energy and ability to focus to get several writing projects written.

We sometimes tend to overlook that some of the franchises and franchisees, as well as other corporate citizens, in our midst take an active role as “citizens” of our community providing support for charities and other good causes in a variety of ways and products. People have come to take this so for granted that it is often forgotten to say “Thank You”.

So to those corporate citizens who understand the importance of charity and contributing to their community, we of the homeless and hungry communities want to express our thanks. With a special big Thank You, for coming through on such short notice, to Starbucks. Real cream, real coffee = a real treat.