Clueless student at UMW

This guy should think deep about what he just said concerning the assault of a girl at the University of Mary Washington ten days ago:

"If there had been security cameras, the rape would not have happened," he said. "We would have known what color car the rapist drove and what he looked like, which would have been much better than an artist's rendering. You can only capture so much in a drawing and human memory is only so good."

Genious! So he says cameras would have prevented it, but then says that it would have helped catch the rapist. Are people really this naive? Fortunately, around here, no:

Junior Mike Isaacson agrees with the administration's decision not to install cameras. "I see the administration's point. Yes, [cameras] would be good to help find the guy after the fact, but they couldn't stop what already happened," he said.

And this from the Fredericksburg police department:

According to Fredericksburg police spokesperson Natatia Bledsoe, a security camera would not have deterred the recent sexual assault on the parking deck. "The problem with [security cameras] is that for them to be in real time, there has to be someone watching the screen at all times," Bledsoe said. However, Bledsoe said that while security cameras are not helpful in crime deterrence, one aided investigation of the abduction and murder of local delivery person Yong Hui Zhang in downtown Fredericksburg this July.

And this:

Hurley said other safety factors contributed to the school's decision not to install the cameras. "Their advice was that cameras provide a false sense of security, are incapable of capturing views of all areas of a deck and are not helpful for crime prevention unless you have someone staring at the monitors 24/7 and even then, it does not mean they would prevent crime since it takes time for police to respond to dispatch calls," Hurley said. Hurley added that this decision was supported by the state crime prevention specialist, whom the school safety office hired to inspect the parking deck last week.

Cameras give a false sense of security. Short of snapping a cop with an M4 into a pouch on your side, your best bet is to provide for your own defense with something small, portable and powerful.