Big Brother is watching you, students. At least that’s the message sent by the University of Colorado-Boulder campus police last week following a massive student celebration of 4/20 – the unofficial national pot-smoking day.
Police posted video-surveillance photos Thursday of 150 people, many of them students, who allegedly lit up bongs and joints, and offered a $50 reward to students whose identification of their toking peers leads to a citation. More than 20 mugs have already been identified, according to the Web site.
“The phones have been ringing off the hook,” police Lt. Tim McGraw said, according to The Associated Press. “One person called in and ID-ed five people.”
Students face a $100 citation for possession of less than one ounce of marijuana and possible trespassing charges.
Officers turned to video surveillance for the first time this year because previous attempts by the small department to disperse thousands of protesters were unsuccessful, according to the blog of The Campus Press, the university’s student newspaper. Signs posted prior to the event, held on a university field, informed would-be tokers that their images would be captured.
This incident is the latest result of a culture that is becoming increasingly reliant on video surveillance; it should serve as an alert to students, especially those who engage in illegal activities, that private activities committed in public are indeed public.
This trend is evidenced by the recent use of video surveillance to facilitate the arrest of University student Austin Michael Hauth, who Eugene police arrested earlier this month for allegedly throwing a rock inside Taylor’s Bar and Grille, causing $500 in damage. The Emerald ran a surveillance photo of the suspect (“Man damages Taylor’s by throwing rock,” ODE, April 4). Multiple people recognized the male suspect and called police on the day that the article ran.
Similarly, the UC-Boulder campus police Web site features a video file depicting alleged vandals in hopes that someone will finger them.
Such uses of video technology, as long as they occur in public locations, can help deter criminals and help catch crooks. However, the usefulness of video surveillance must be balanced against the threat of an Orwellian society.
The UC-Boulder police unit’s decision to post photos of students online, implying those students have broken the law, raises potential invasion of privacy and libel issues. Some of the students might have been smoking tobacco, and they don’t deserve a tarnished reputation.
Further, where were officers on April 20? Campus police relied on cameras to document illegal activity rather than make a live appearance and actually prevent students from smoking marijuana at that location.
Video surveillance offers useful crime-fighting technology as long as police do not use cameras to invade personal privacy or as a substitute for a physical presence. And as for officers enticing students to go online and turn each other in, we say that finding and identifying criminals should be the job of the police.
The Boulder 4/20 situation does offer an interesting idea for the University’s own problem with “unclassy” fan behavior at football games. Perhaps in the future, students can digitally photograph drunk or unruly fans, bring those pictures to the snack bar and receive a free hot dog – courtesy of the Department of Public Safety.