Alaska Town, pop 2,400 gets 80 Cameras Installed.

[Cyre2067]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-secure28mar28,0,3284078.story?coll=la-home-headlines

DILLINGHAM, Alaska — From Anchorage it takes 90 minutes on a propeller plane to reach this fishing village on the state's southwestern edge, a place where some people still make raincoats out of walrus intestine.

This is the Alaskan bush at its most remote. Here, tundra meets sea, and sea turns to ice for half the year. Scattered, almost hidden, in the terrain are some of the most isolated communities on American soil. People choose to live in outposts like Dillingham (pop. 2,400) for that reason: to be left alone.

So eyebrows were raised in January when the first surveillance cameras went up on Main Street. Each camera is a shiny white metallic box with two lenses like eyes. The camera's shape and design resemble a robot's head.

Workers on motorized lifts installed seven cameras in a 360-degree cluster on top of City Hall. They put up groups of six atop two light poles at the loading dock, and more at the fire hall and boat harbor.

By mid-February, more than 60 cameras watched over the town, and the Dillingham Police Department plans to install 20 more — all purchased through a $202,000 Homeland Security grant meant primarily to defend against a terrorist attack.

Now the residents of this far-flung village have become, in one sense, among the most watched people in the land, with — as former Mayor Freeman Roberts puts it — "one camera for every 30 residents."

Odd, extremely odd.

 

[j0da]

OVER 60 cameras in such a LITTLE town? Boy, those guys will run out of stock pretty soon ;) And perhaps, those electronic gizmos could serve as perfect slingshot practice targets - just sell the idea to local kids :D Okey, okey, they would probably get into some trouble, so don't do that. Damn..why I can imagine accusing their parents for spreading TERRORISM?

It sucks a big time.

 

[Deadpool]

A bit of security is understandable as it is a remote port entrance. Ya know, like a security guard. 20 cameras is a little over the top, and we know our government: they ain't gonna spend money unless they feel its well spent on themselves.

So whats so important near this lil townlet? Obviously its something locals don't know anything about, but what about foreigners? Little theories jump up squeaking "secret base" or some such thing. Whats up there in Alaska that requires such security? the Perfect Snowboard?

I mean, nowadays anyone wanting to get onto US soil doesn't do it through a port for crying out loud. If you're going to the trouble of not being seen you land on some remote beach, not a port or harbor. Curiosity is raised, but how to go about gaining more knowledge on this subject?