Date: Tue, 5 Jun 2001 04:39:00 -0400 From: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor) Subject: Cameras to give police a Kabukicho 'peep' show To: freematt@coil.com (Matthew Gaylor)
Tuesday, June 5, 2001
Cameras to give police a Kabukicho 'peep' show http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?nn20010605m1.htm
By HIROSHI MATSUBARA Staff writer
Starting this fall, anyone partying in Tokyo's Kabukicho district runs the risk of having their drunken antics caught on police monitors. Immortalized, a video sequence of you zigzagging out of a pub may even find itself in storage at the Metropolitan Police Department.
The department announced last month that it will introduce in the busy Shinjuku Ward entertainment area a "community security camera system" comprised of 50 video cameras to monitor pedestrians.
Police officials said the move is in response to an increasing number of crimes in the area.
The announcement followed petitions filed in early May by a local shopkeepers' union and the Shinjuku Ward Office, who say they are counting on the system to curb what they see as a worsening situation and to help Kabukicho regain its reputation as a healthy entertainment district.
"It has been a decade-long wish of ours to have such cameras to reduce the crime rate in Kabukicho," said Ryoji Komatsu, chairman of the shopkeeper's union, whose 800 members consist mainly of stores and restaurants that have long served the district.
"I hope the cameras will see a return to a healthy Kabukicho an help us attract family visitors like it used to."
According to the police department's community safety bureau, the 50 cameras, including some that can be manipulated by remote control, will cover the main 600-sq.-meter area of Kabukicho.
Cameras will be set on utility poles and roofs or walls of buildings, keeping indiscriminate track of passersby around the clock. The images will be automatically sent to police headquarters and the Shinjuku police station, where they will be recorded for possible use in criminal investigations.
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The Japan Times: June 5, 2001 (C) All rights reserved
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