If Gobin Persaud
sits in the office of his apartment building on Park Avenue S. in
Minneapolis and watches a crime show on television this week, the
actors might be performing right outside his door.
Beginning this week, Persaud and
nine other Phillips neighborhood volunteers are monitoring crime
through the use of small cameras on windowsills and tables in
their houses and apartments. They hope to catch drug dealers and
prostitutes without leaving the couch.
The cameras are smaller than a fist
and cost about $130 each. They produce clear images and can tape
on video. Police want residents to have realistic expectations
about the cameras' role in getting more arrests, but Hennepin
County Attorney Amy Klobuchar said she will look at the tapes on a
case-by-case basis and determine whether they can be useful
evidence.
"We have had cases that used
citizens' pictures or videos in prosecution of crime," she
said. "We want to work with law enforcement and review the
evidence. We have to wait to see what we might get. If it's good,
we'll use it."
The cameras were donated to Paris
Getty of St. Paul by X10, a wireless-technology company in
Seattle. Getty operates a crime-watch Web site and said he is
always looking for products to improve neighborhood watches and
block clubs. A couple of months ago he saw the camera on an X10
Web site. He asked for a demo model and set it up next to a
suspected crack house.
"We aimed it at the porch and
watched 15 to 20 people coming to do business within a 15-minute
period," he said.
The cameras will be moved to other
houses and put in cars in high-crime areas, he said. If criminals
were caught on tape, police wouldn't have to rely on sketchy
witness accounts, he said.
"People wouldn't feel so
scared about telling police about what's going on," he said.
"I don't know if we'll get arrests from the cameras, but at
least we'll have some documentation about what's going on."
Cameras in convenience stores have
been helpful for highly visible crimes such as robberies and
assaults, but filming drug deals is more problematic, said
Minneapolis Third Precinct police Lt. Bud Emerson. When drugs are
sold on the street, they're usually passed from hand to hand, he
said.
"And if somebody calls in a
crime they see on television, the suspect is most likely on the
move by time an officer could get to the scene," he said.
"But it is possible we could make an arrest with the cameras'
help."
The cameras might have some value
in identifying people who repeatedly commit crimes, he said.
The cameras should deter crime,
said Phillips neighborhood activist Donna Ellringer.
"Criminals on the street get
information quicker than e-mail," she said.
Jeff Denenholz, a spokesman for
X10, said Phillips is an example of "the serious benefits you
can get from this camera." The company is watching the
Minneapolis program to see how effective the camera might be as a
crime-fighting tool.
Persaud, a co-owner of a building
at 1800 Park, said he hears complaints from tenants about drug
dealers and people who urinate in public on E. 18th Street. If he
or his caretaker aren't around, Persaud now has another
"eye" watching for him.
"Every little bit we can do is
better than sitting around and doing nothing," he said.
Getty is no stranger in finding new
and unusual ways to try to solve crime in Phillips and bring
attention to the neighborhood. For years, he has been offering a
"crack tour," in which he drives people around to show
them how easy it is to buy the drug.
His Web site is at
http://www.crimewatch.org
. He also operates the Internet server for Britain's neighborhood
watch program. The site has examples of how the cameras in
Phillips will work.
Getty wonders what would have
happened if the cameras had been rolling on the apartment building
at 1818 Park in April 1998. That's where 77-year-old Ann Prazniak
was found dead in a garbage bag in cardboard box. After she was
killed, her apartment was burglarized and used by dozens of people
for prostitution and drug deals.
"Ultimately I hope to set up a
camera and show crack dealing live on the Internet," he said.
"I think the camera has potential."
© Copyright
2000 Star Tribune. All rights reserved.
