Chicago Mayor Wants Security Cameras Outside Bars

Just like every other major American city, Chicago is littered with surveillance cameras atop government buildings, local businesses, train stations and the like.

Soon, patrons of local bars and taverns may be the next group to get their pictures taken by security cameras–and stored on digital video. 

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley is calling for security cameras to be installed outside bars that are open until 4 a.m., in order to keep track of the people entering and leaving during the night and early morning, USA Today reports.

In addition, any business that is open more than 12 hours a day would eventually have to install cameras as well, if Daley gets his way, USA Today reports.

Needless to say, civil liberties advocates are up in arms.

“There is no reason to mandate all of those cameras unless you one day see them being linked to the city’s 911 system,” Ed Yohnka of the Illinois American Civil Liberties Union told USA Today.  “We have perhaps reached that moment of critical mass when people…want to have a dialogue about how much of this is appropriate.”

This spring, about 30 intersections in Chicago will be monitored by surveillance cameras to catch unruly drivers in the act, and there are currently some 2,000 cameras around the city that connect to a central emergency command center, USA Today reports.

For more on surveillance cameras, read Reality TV.

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