The safety cameras are common-sense tools that can help police and prosecutors. They have already proven their value in helping secure convictions against five men who attacked Adam Taylor last summer in downtown Columbia. It is horrifying to view Adam’s savage beating at the hands of a gang playing a perverse and violent game called ‘Knockout King.’
Keeping Columbia safe is no game, it’s serious business, and our police and prosecutors need all the support we can give them. I stand with our police and prosecutors. Incumbent Ward 3 Councilman Karl Skala opposes the cameras, calling them `stupid technology,’ and Skala is standing with those who want to deprive Columbia’s police and prosecutors of this valuable enforcement tool.
I call for paying for the city’s share of deploying the safety cameras with a reallocation of $25,000 from the city’s $40,500 annual travel budget. During Skala’s term the Council travel budget has increased some 20 percent, with nearly all of that increase being gobbled up by Skala.
FOR THE RECORD: Kespohl versus Skala on Safety Cameras and Proposition 1
Kespohl put his foot down on the issue of crime when he offered support for downtown surveillance cameras and red-light cameras as law enforcement tools. Skala said he felt there were better ways to enforce the law, calling cameras “stupid technology.”
–Columbia Daily Tribune, January 30, 2010-03-29
One issue he (Skala) has spoken passionately about is downtown surveillance cameras, which he does not support — unlike his opponent Kespohl.
–Columbia Daily Tribune, Sunday, March 14, 2010
Kespohl favors deployment of downtown surveillance cameras, which Skala strongly opposes.
–Columbia Daily Tribune editorial, Sunday, March 28, 2010
