Nevada City, CA — Nevada City California is considered by many to be a politically progressive hamlet located in the Sierra Nevada foothills. As the city council prepares to seat its 2016 members, it appears that there is a controversial agenda item for its first public hearing. According to a memo obtained by The Fazzler, the city council is planning on installing cameras in all Nevada City male restrooms to, in the words of the leaked document, “keep an eye on potential male predators.”
The cameras, which are being installed by the Roseville, CA-based Protection Services, LLC at a cost of almost $1000 per installation, will allow anonymous surveillance of men while they are using toilets and urinals. The devices, according to Protection Services, will be similar to the popular Internet service SnapChat in that the “toilet servers” will only store images of men long enough for law enforcement to investigate potential crime, then they will be deleted. Each camera will be individually labeled to alert the user that he is being recorded.
Although this plan has garnered support from victim groups across California, not everyone is supporting the City’s move.
“It’s like Voltaire said: ‘I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it,'” said local ACLU representative Fernwood Z. Frischland in a The Fazzler telephone interview. “Wait, that’s not what I meant to say. What I meant to say is that is an outrage. It’s an invasion of privacy unparalleled in modern history. Well, at least here in Nevada County.”
The cameras are due to be installed in the coming weeks, unless the ACLU’s injunction is successful.
