Fighting Crime From Above?

An odd trend was emerging from this weeks news articles:  public and private surveillance cameras are getting stolen.  In two of these situations, arrests were made, and it was discovered that the men involved had substance abuse conditions.  The third perp remains at large, although a grainy picture of him can be found on the third link below

SPY-CAMERA SNATCH SHOT RED-LIGHT 'THIEVES' GET BUSTED
Man in court for stealing CCTV camera with fishing line
Cops: Man stole security camera from a Wendy's

One of the men who allegedly stole the red light cameras may have been a subcontractor to the company who installed the devices.  According to the NY POST:

Two oddballs have been busted for swiping nearly 20 percent of the city's red-light cameras right under Big Brother's nose, The Post has learned.

They allegedly drove around town in a pickup truck with a cherry-picker to dismantle 22 of the high-end Nikons from their street poles. The devices are used to identify red-light-running drivers, who then are issued tickets by mail.

The suspects peddled an estimated $88,000 worth of goods to a camera resale shop for $300 each to feed their heroin habits, law-enforcement sources said yesterday.

Cintorrino previously did subcontracting work as a camera installer for Mulvihill ICS, the company said.

Court records indicate he has a long history of illicit drug use and psychiatric problems. In 2004, he sued the manufacturer of the antidepressant drug Wellbutrin, saying he attempted suicide after taking the drug, but dropped the suit.

What is deeply troubling here is that the state did not force background checks at the contractor or subcontractor level.  If they did, they allowed this man to continue working on the red light camera project despite his history with drug use.   After installing these red light camera devices, this man had intimate knowledge to dismantle and remove these cameras, and in this case, to resell.

If cities do not enforce background checks on camera installers, they have opened a pandoras box and who knows what will happen.  The installers could conspire to scheme a much more devious crime in the future. Without the proper practices backing up the installation of these systems, these project can run afoul after they are up and running.