Proposed cameras were entrapment tools

Editor of the Reformer:
I would like to convey my sentiments on the recent shoot-down of the surveillance camera proposal for the mighty metropolis of Bellows Falls.

Great, grand and wonderful. I am very happy to hear that the board of trustees from Bellows Falls decided against and should never even consider the proposal ever again. Be done with it, Chief Clark, and you should realize that securing money for recreation, entertainment or other programs to do in and around the area can also serve as a crime prevention tool.

Could it be that the cameras may be used as an entrapment tool while officers lay in wait at the department to monitor closed-circuit cameras being able to stage an ambush, so to speak? Don’t court orders have to be approved in order to have close surveillance of places and people? This would have been the largest and most permanent sting operation ever to date. Whatever the motive was to have the cameras installed is very weak.

I was born and raised in Bellows Falls, graduated high school there and have been in the U.S. Army for more than 12 years now. I am currently deployed to Mosul, Iraq, and when I heard about the “camera proposal” I could not believe it. U.S. bases around the world don’t even have security cameras in common areas.

I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and protect it from all enemies foreign and domestic. I believe that this idea is an extreme invasion of privacy. Bellows Falls is not a prison, foreign border or bank, nor did the proposal deter against any type of Homeland Security threat.

So, I did a little research of some other areas in the United States as well as the surrounding areas of Bellows Falls. The 2004 statistics show that there were 17 violent crimes and 51 property crimes in the village of Bellows Falls.

Keene, N.H., logged 44 violent crimes and 357 property crimes. Brattleboro reported 27 violent crimes, 407 property crimes. Chester, a more comparable area in the demographics of population, reported four violent crimes and 66 property crimes.

In addition, I researched a twin city area in the Hell’s Canyon area of Clarkston, Wash. and Lewiston, Idaho, which has a combined population of approximately 38,000 people and cover roughly 20 square miles.

Between the two cities, there were 59 violent crimes and 1,829 property crimes known to the civilian authorities with 75 percent of the property crimes occurring in Lewiston.

Finally the Washington, D.C., population of just over a half-million people had 7,336 violent crimes and 25,835 property crimes. All of these statistics were reported from 2004 on a national crime analysis Web site.

So why is it that you would need 16 separate cameras in a public area, some operating 24 hours a day?

I usually visit BF once or twice a year and in the more recent years I’ve noticed a great revival, the Canal Street area that was never used for years, now up and running, more business in the downtown area, increased entertainment, houses that were once very bland with boring colors and in need of work, have found a new old way to accent the craftsmanship with detailed painting.

Even the train station and Pigeon Park area have come a long way from when I lived there. When Sen. Patrick Leahy said that Bellows Falls should be followed as a model for other communities around the state, he was referring to the historical restoration and increased programs to better the community, not covert operation tactics.

So I encourage the board of trustees and the local community to help fund better summer programs for children and teens, or secure grants for outreach programs and other programs of interest that will not only educate but shut down the devil’s workshop of idle minds. Brainstorm; invest in the future of your children, and the village that is Bellows Falls will improve in a positive way that the people will embrace.

SSG Eric P. Forbush

172nd Stryker Brigade

Mosul, Iraq, Feb. 16