But instead of cops on the beat, wireless video cameras peer down from lamp posts about 30 feet above the sidewalk.

They were the first installment of a program to place 500 cameras throughout the city at a cost of $9 million.

Hundreds of additional cameras could follow if the city receives $81.5 million in federal grants it has requested to safeguard Lower Manhattan and parts of midtown with a surveillance “ring of steel“ modeled after security measures in London’s financial district.

The city already has about 1,000 cameras in the subways, with 2,100 scheduled to be in place by 2008. An additional 3,100 cameras monitor city housing projects.

Privacy advocates say the NYPD’s camera plan needs more study and safeguards to preserve privacy and guard against abuses like racial profiling and voyeurism.

The department “is installing cameras first and asking questions later,” said Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union.

She concedes cameras can help investigators identify suspects once a crime has been committed, but argues they can’t prevent crime. She cited a 2002 study that concluded surveillance cameras used in 14 British cities had little or no impact on crime rates — just as they didn’t keep terrorists from bombing the London subway system last year.

“The London experience shouldn’t be misconstrued that the ‘ring of steel’ prevents terrorism,” she said. “But that’s how it’s being pitched.”

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A bill being discussed in the Illinois House would give communities the authority to install cameras, controlled by sensors under the pavement, at intersections to catch red-light scofflaws.

The State Senate voted 33-22 in favor of the bill, introduced by John J. Cullerton, D-6th, of Chicago.

Cullerton said Chicago’s red-light camera program has been successful. (I would say $22+ million is pretty successful)

“This bill is a tremendous promoter of roadway safety and it dramatically reduces fatalities at red lights,” Cullerton said.

After the Senate approved the bill to give other communities authority to install cameras, State Rep. Angelo “Skip” Saviano, R-77th, introduced it in the House; it currently is in the Rules Committee.

Saviano, like Cullerton, rejects privacy objections to the program.

“I don’t consider it Big Brother,” Saviano said. “It will eventually act as a deterrent.”

But State Sen. Wendell E. Jones, R-27th of Palatine, voted against the bill, one of 22 senators to do.

“I think we’ve got enough big government looking down our back, so I tend to vote against that kind of thing,” Jones said. “You can go too far with the government looking at everything.”

He also doubted the program would be applicable to smaller towns.

“I know that in Chicago it’s probably a safety factor, but I doubt that it is anywhere else in the state. And it’s just more intrusion into people’s lives,” Jones said.

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Immediately after installation, the cameras sparked a 40-percent increase in rear-end collisions, and never looked back, with five-year increases in accident rates far exceeding a 10-percent increase in traffic.

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In the event of an emergency, the cameras, which are from Nestor Traffic Systems Inc., could also provide live images, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

The city’s contract with Affiliated Computer Services lapsed last year and red-light cameras at 16 intersections were deactivated. The contract was not renewed because officials learned that 20 percent of photographed red-light violations were dismissed “due to lack of clear evidence to prove the violation,” according to police.

The City Council has approved a $3.12 million contract with Nestor to install camera systems at as many as 32 intersections.

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In Marietta, rear-end collisions increased 49 percent from 65 to 97 from 2004 to 2005. At the intersection of Cobb Parkway and Windy Hill road, there were 108 accidents of all types in 2004 and 163 in 2005. Since their installation, red light cameras have generated $2.7 million for the city.

In Duluth, accidents increased 21 percent, from 75 to 91, between March 2004 and February 2005 compared with March 2005 and February 2006. The city’s lone camera made $790,000 in the current fiscal year and should make a million the next.

Eric Skrum, communications director for the National Motorists Association says the data show cameras are not working as promised. “These devices don’t increase safety at all,” he said, “I certainly don’t consider it a safety improvement when you have more of one type of accident and less of another.”

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Gray said Monday the city is considering adding digital cameras to its sweepers.

Sweeper drivers would snap pictures of license plates on illegally parked cars, and tickets would be issued later, the mayor said. Those images would include the date and time.

“There is no new policy in effect right now,” Gray said, but he added that a change may come later in the spring. “There will be plenty of notice,’’ he said.

Hmmm…I wonder what else they will be photographing with those street sweeper cameras? Or what else they will use it for, in the future?

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Provincial law requires that Winnipeg Police Service conduct an evaluation of the safety effects of its photo ticket program. That evaluation claimed accidents dropped at the first twelve intersections to use cameras. Rear end collisions increased from 63 in 2003 to 84 in 2004 and 71 in 2005. Right angle collisions, however, dropped from 37 in 2003 to 15 in 2004 and 12 in 2005. On balance, the numbers looked positive.

Police data for the entire city, however, showed no change in the overall number of accidents. This raised a red flag for the auditor regarding the effectiveness of red light cameras in particular.

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Henderson held a four-hour hearing Thursday on a request by attorney Gary Stern and his wife, April, for a permanent injunction stopping the use of the cameras. The city began using the Traffipax portable cameras on Sept. 22, but the practice was halted on Dec. 5 when Henderson issued a preliminary injunction. The cameras were mainly used on Lovers Lane, Ohio 7 and in front of Harding Middle School.

Stern has maintained the city failed to follow its own ordinance by failing to publish notice of locations of the cameras; failing to erect conspicuous signs; and failing to maintain a list of locations to be monitored by the cameras. Stern also has alleged the traffic camera ordinance is unconstitutional because it makes a criminal offense a civil violation and violates the due process rights of the driver by allowing a city police officer to hear appeals of the tickets.

The city, through Assistant Law Director Costa Mastros, has maintained the city can regulate street traffic because it has home-rule authority as a charter city.

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The new measure by Mike DeWine of Ohio, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Chuck Hagel of Nebraska and Olympia Snowe of Maine would significantly expand the administration’s power to intercept U.S. citizens’ international phone calls and e-mails without obtaining a warrant — even when they have not been implicated in any crime. It also would let the surveillance continue with much less oversight than Congress demanded in previous laws.

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If approved at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, the red light cameras will be erected at the city’s largest intersection, where Millbrae Avenue, Rollins Road and Highway 101 meet.

The city estimates it will make about $1.3 million a year by adding five cameras at the intersection. Each red light ticket carries a fine of $271 and the city receives about $147 of that. The city estimates the cameras will catch about 10 violators a day and take in a total of $1,764,000 a year. It will cost $318,000 a year to maintain the cameras and $100,000 to hire a police officer to be manage the program. The $100,000 will pay the officer’s salary and benefits.

If approved Tuesday, Millbrae will be one of many Peninsula cities opting for red light cameras. Last year, the city of San Mateo approved cameras at some of its most dangerous intersections. San Mateo police will not disclose which intersections the cameras are at, but previously said Hillsdale Boulevard and Saratoga Drive had 31 red light violations in a two-hour time frame during an informal study conducted in 2003.

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