{"id":1643,"date":"2019-12-04T20:16:30","date_gmt":"2019-12-04T20:16:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/?p=1643"},"modified":"2023-03-27T15:52:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T15:52:21","slug":"video-surveillance-the-hidden-eye-of-the-justice-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/9thstreetjournal.org\/2019\/12\/04\/video-surveillance-the-hidden-eye-of-the-justice-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Video surveillance: The hidden eye of the justice system"},"content":{"rendered":"
Video cameras captured two scenes from the convenience store on Alston Avenue in East Durham on the night of Jan. 9, 2018.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In one, a little boy walks inside, his eyes on the prize. He flashes a mischievous smile, eager to get his hands on a Hostess \u201cDonette\u201d packet stacked neatly a few steps away.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In the other scene, from outside the store, Noe Ruiz and Jerone Powell get into a fight. Powell exits with a stab wound, leaving Ruiz with a court date.<\/span><\/p>\n The two scenes captured by the store\u2019s video system show how cameras have become unblinking spectators. They can capture, with incredible levels of detail, the banal routine of a convenience store just as they can reveal the crimes that occasionally occur there.<\/span><\/p>\n Daniel Meier, a prominent defense lawyer in Durham who represented Ruiz, says the convenience store footage is a reminder that video cameras are everywhere. Businesses, stores, and even renters and homeowner are recording everything.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cCameras are dirt cheap now. It takes almost nothing to do it. People, acting out of a sense of paranoia, feel secure when a camera is watching.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n The implications of such surveillance are fuzzy, Meier said. Our private lives have been transformed into something more public.<\/span><\/p>\n But much of the footage is the seemingly dull routine of everyday life.<\/span><\/p>\n In the convenience store, the kid sees the rack with the doughnuts. Jackpot. He picks a 3-pack of the powdered pastry off the shelf and dashes down the aisle with his conquest. He runs straight into his mom, who snatches the stolen goodies out of his nubby hands. His once-triumphant grin transforms into a surly pout.<\/span><\/p>\n Jeb Dennis, a public defender at the Durham County Courthouse, said that the standards of evidence are higher now. Juries expect video evidence. If it\u2019s not available, they want to know why.<\/span><\/p>\n