FC: Ohio police department nominated for Big Brother award

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

***************

From: Matthew Gaylor <freematt () coil com>
Subject: You're nominated for an award (Privacy)
Date: Sat, 3 Feb 2001 14:24:06 -0500

Dear Chief Miller <jmiller () hoa net>,

I wanted you to be among the first to hear that I've nominated your 
Department, Reynoldsburg, Ohio, Police http://www.hoa.net/reypd/ for 
Lewis Koch's "First Annual George Orwell 1984 Award".  The prize, a 
1949 first-edition copy of Orwell's 1984, worth about $100, will be 
awarded to the reader who supplies the best tip about an  egregious 
assault on personal privacy. The judges will be yours truly, plus 
Richard M. Smith and other officers of the Privacy Foundation. E-mail 
all suggestions to lzkoch () mediaone net. All tips will be held in 
strictest confidence, so the award might well go to "anonymous." All 
suggestions will be fully investigated and thoroughly checked.

You're being nominated for your approval of placing hidden police 
surveillance cameras in a Reyoldsburg High School student restroom.

In addition I especially found your encouragement to sign your 
Departmental web site guestbook enlightening:
"If you don't sign our Guest Book, we're gonna send the CyberPatrol 
out after ya!"

I hope you win.

Regards,  Matthew Gaylor-

At 2:03 PM -0400 10/24/99, Matthew Gaylor wrote:
> http://libpub.dispatch.com/cgi-bin/slwebcli.pl?DBLIST=cd99&DOCNUM=20898
>
>
> This article is  1999 The Columbus Dispatch
>
> 'SECRET' CAMERA REMOVED FROM HIGH-SCHOOL BATHROOM
>
> Date: Thursday, October 14, 1999
> Section: NEWS
> Page: 12C
> Byline: Julie R. Bailey
> Source: Dispatch Schools Reporter
>
> Police put a video camera in a boys bathroom at Reynoldsburg High School
> last week, hoping to catch the person who wrote a message on a wall that
> could have been interpreted as a bomb threat. However, the camera was
> removed within hours after school custodians discovered it, Reynoldsburg
> Police Chief Jeanne Miller said yesterday. "It was no longer a secret,''
> Miller said, explaining why the camera was taken down. She said it was not
> in the stalls and was positioned to videotape only the head and shoulders
> of people in the bathroom. Some parents and students questioned using the
> camera. "I don't agree with the method because I believe it was an invasion
> of privacy,'' said Linda Rico, whose daughter attends the high school. "My
> daughter was extremely upset about it, and I took her side. I'm glad to
> hear the camera is gone.'' Within the past week to 10 days, messages were
> written on walls in two Þrst-þoor boys bathrooms at the school, 6699 E.
> Livingston Ave., Miller said. A camera was placed in only one of the
> bathrooms, she said. Reynoldsburg schools Superintendent Richard Ross said
> the messages were cryptic and did not include the words "bomb threat,'' but
> "it could be interpreted that it could be what it meant.'' Ross said the
> school now has more adult supervision in student bathrooms. Miller thinks
> the messages were copycats of two bomb threats written on bathroom walls at
> Westerville South High School last month. After the threats appeared, the
> principal banned book bags and backpacks and made students empty their
> lockers so they could be searched.
>
> ###
>
>  >http://www.nytimes.com/library/tech/99/10/biztech/articles/24violence.html
>  >
>  >Computer Project Seeks to Avert Youth Violence
>  >
>  >Columbine Spurs Pilot Program at Schools
>  >
>  >By FRANCIS X. CLINES
>  >The New York Times
>  >
>  >REYNOLDSBURG, Ohio -- Spurred by the deadly rampage at Columbine 
> High School,
>  >the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms is working with a
>  >threat-evaluation company to develop a computer program to help school
>  >administrators spot troubled students who might be near the brink 
> of violence.
>  >
>  >When the national pilot program, known as Mosaic-2000, begins 
> testing at more
>  >than 20 schools in December, its technique of confidentially vetting and
>  >rating
>  >potentially violent students on a scale of 1 to 10 will come not a 
> moment too
>  >soon for Steve Dackin, principal of Reynoldsburg High School.
>  >
>  >"Columbine forever changed things for all of us," Dackin said of 
> the school in
>  >Littleton, Colo., where two students shot 13 people to death before killing
>  >themselves in April.
>  >
>  ><snip>




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