Point Counterpoint

Alyssa Navarro Managing Editor

The book 1984 was just twenty five years late. Big Brother is upon us and it doesn't seem like there is going to be 

any resistance. 

It all started after 9/11 with the Patriot Act. The government hit us on  a big scale and then died down, now they are picking up again but  its on a small scale. 

The Fullerton train station will be one of many stations in the Orange County area to have security cameras installed. 

Cameras will be installed at the southbound and northbound platforms as well as the two soon- to- be parking structures at Harbor Boulevard and Santa Fe Street. 

If security has become a problem at the station more guards should be hired to patrol the grounds. Guards that actually look for suspicious activity and don't just hang around  and make money. 

Installing cameras will be a huge invasion of the privacy of Downtown Fullerton natives. Not to mention how much more money it is going to cost to not only maintain the system but to hire people to watch and go through the hours of footage in order to maybe catch one person of interest. 

The train station is in the heart of Downtown Fullerton and sees a lot of the action. Downtown is a major college area where people come to have fun with there friends and yes, drinking does go on, people are going to think twice before they go out. This will cause Fullerton to lose profit in its most profitable area: the bar and restaurant business. 

This country was based upon less government and more people. By installing cameras it is jamming the government down our throats and taking away the "of the-people" part of our constitution. Less government and more people means less cameras and

more guards. 

Carla Gonzalez Hornet Staff

The Fullerton train station will install nine surveillance cameras in the parking structure and in the walking bridge. 

The Orange County Transportation Authority will implement this system, which is funded through federal government grants. The project is linked to other surveillance cameras that have already been installed in the Downtown area.

The Department of Homeland Security released a transit risk assessment at the end of 2008, which showed the necessity of a security system in the Metrolink stations in Fullerton. Other cities: Buena Park, Orange, Irvine, Santa Ana and Tustin, should be expecting the same system due to the stations having the highest arrivals and departures of people.

A telephone poll from ABC News and the Washington Post  said that 71 percent of Americans were in support of increasing use of surveillance cameras in public spaces. Trainweb.com, an online security system TV circuit, has five cameras in the station recording in real time to a computer software. It sees around 2.5 million page views per month. 

A closed-circuit television system  makes people and communities feel safer. Some of the systems offer an immediate response with a live monitoring. Some can be accessed after an event occurred to gather additional information, and others are simply fake cameras used as

a deterrent.

Camera network acceptance is not just a local issue. They are becoming more important in other countries as well. Today's camera technologies make surveillance systems more attractive to different cities around the globe. Places in America that have seen a large impact in violent crimes, have a higher acceptance to it.