Charleston City Council has approved nearly $250,000 worth of surveillance cameras to closely monitor nearly every park in the city.
The problem with mass surveillance has always been that it expands beyond the uses for which it is initially justified. In Charleston’s case, the stated intention itself is already vague. Mayor Amy Shuler Goodwin’s Chief of Staff Matt Sutton told reporters the cameras will be used to “protect our little ones” and make sure no one is “misusing” the parks.
Although officials claim this new surveillance apparatus is all about public safety, it’s hard to imagine the cameras’ primary use will be for anything other than the continued bullying and harassment of people experiencing homelessness.
For those who can’t access Charleston’s underfunded shelter system, a park might be the only place to rest. And in recent years, police have been repeatedly caught sweeping people up in city parks after hours.
Two years ago, police arrested 16 unsheltered people in coordinated pre-dawn raids across three city parks – timed strategically for the day before the city's annual Sternwheel Regatta. These weren't arrests for violent crimes or drug dealing. The "crime" was existing while homeless in a public park after 11 p.m.
The data tells a damning story. From 2018 to 2021, Charleston police issued exactly one citation for being in parks after hours. But starting in January 2022, enforcement of this ordinance skyrocketed by 2,600 percent through 2023.
Alleged crimes included “jaywalking,” which is a backdoor way to arrest people for panhandling (a constitutionally protected right) and “littering,” a charge that authorities throw at people who must carry all of their worldly belongings with them and dare to occasionally set them down on the ground so that they can rest.
Now, with the installation of cameras throughout the city, officials can more easily wage war on homeless people from the comfort of an air-conditioned office. This won’t make people safer. When we push people experiencing homelessness away from public spaces, we push them toward more dangerous locations where they're more vulnerable to violence.
The ACLU of West Virginia condemns the City of Charleston’s decision to invest in technology to surveil its citizens and punish poverty. This approach won’t solve homelessness – it’s just another attempt to push it out of sight.