NewsMax.com
Thursday, Sept. 25, 2003

Recently schools in or near San Diego; Syracuse; West Milford, N.J.; Rockbridge County, Va.; and Owings Mills, Md., have announced the installation of surveillance systems.

Meanwhile, in New York City, Margie Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the Department of Education, said there were cameras in 150 of its schools.

Dominic Recchia, a New York councilman who led a drive to install cameras in the stairwells and hallways of Lafayette, Lincoln and John Dewey High Schools, said, "This is definitely the movement we're headed to."

Fearful of violence and schoolhouse shootings, educators across the country are rushing to install ceiling-mounted cameras in hallways, libraries and cafeterias.

Biloxi, Miss. appears to be leading the trend -- hanging the cameras not only in corridors and other common areas but also in all of its 500 classrooms. That has made virtually everything that happens at any of Biloxi's public schools subject to instant replay.

"It's like truth serum," said Dr. Laurie A. Pitre, principal of North Bay Elementary. "When we have a he-said, she-said situation, 9 times out of 10 all we have to do is ask children if they want us to go back and look at the camera, and they fess up."

When officials are drawing up plans for schools, "there's not a one that doesn't want cameras," said Todd Walker, chief financial officer of the CameraWatch Corporation, according to the Times report.

Modern digital cameras record to a computer hard drive, allowing school principals to conduct an instant replay of a cafeteria food fight at the click of a mouse.

Unlike Biloxi, most school districts still install cameras only in hallways, other interior common areas and parking lots, said Greg Chase, technology director for SHW, a Dallas-based architectural firm that specializes in schools.

Editor's note:
FREE E-mail Alerts From NewsMax.com - Click Here Now!

Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Guns/Gun Control