Houston Independent School District selected a local Houston company to provide exterior cameras for the District’s fleet of 989 school buses. In August 2012 Safety Vision, according to this statement from Mark Swackhamer, HISD’s Senior Manager of Fleet Operations, was selected to add exterior cameras on 400 buses and eventually the entire fleet:
“The HISD Transportation Department has worked diligently this summer to increase student safety on our school buses. The addition of safety Vision exterior cameras on 400 buses and eventually our entire fleet will greatly enrich our transportation security initiatives. Student and employee safety is our highest priority and the addition of Safety Vision SV-835 and SV-690 exterior cameras will help us achieve our goals to have the most protected, reliable fleet possible,” said HISD’s Senior Manager of Fleet Operations Mark Swackhamer.
It’s not a stretch to envision at some point the SV-835 and SV-690 exterior cameras could be complemented by interior microphone-enabled surveillance systems. Such a system facilitates the ability to store and record private conversations, something Safety Vision actively promotes on its website (emphasis mine)
Safety Vision offers a full suite of mass transit mobile digital video recording solutions…featuring rugged and reliable mobile DVRs, wireless download of video and audio files…
Transit authorities in San Francisco, Baltimore and other cities are already installing these systems on their PUBLIC buses. As reported by Wired.com—THREE DAYS after December 7th, the commemoration of Pearl Harbor Day:
“the use of these systems raises serious questions about eavesdropping without a warrant, particularly since recordings of passengers could be obtained and used by law enforcement agencies”
The Right to Privacy is dying for Houston schoolchildren. And their parents, the ones who voted for more of this tyranny on Election Day could care less.