One thing they won’t be used for is any Peeping Tomfoolery. When the initial cameras were installed, in September 2013, it was disclosed that they not only had full pan-tilt-zoom capabilities, but were powerful enough to see into certain Strip hotel rooms. Capt. Robert Duvall, however, announced a zero-tolerance policy for that manner of surveillance. "That will lead to discipline for the officers. Now, you’ve got some major incident on a hotel where a guy is sitting on a ledge and threatening to jump, obviously that’s a different story," Duvall explained at the time.
Of the additional cameras, Las Vegas Metro Police Public Information Officer Jesse Roybal said, "They’re not ours." He said that his captain says nothing has been added, and that what you are seeing are probably traffic cams and hotel-security cameras. "We [still] have 37 cameras."
Clark County Public Works Public Information Officer Dan Kulin shed light on the situation, enumerating them in clockwise fashion from nine o’clock. First is a Public Work video-detection traffic camera covering the Bellagio exit. Next is an RTC FAST [Freeway & Arterial System of Transportation] traffic-surveillance camera, then three Metro cameras, followed by a Public Works video-detection camera covering the Paris-Las Vegas exit. Two more Metro and FAST cameras, in alternation, complete the circle. In the middle, on the median island are two Public Works video-detection cameras, covering the Paris Drive and Bellagio Drive lanes, respectively.
So, not to worry: Big Brother may be keeping an eye on your driving but Las Vegas Metro hasn’t upped its surveillance on you, particularly not in the privacy of your room.
Annotated photograph supplied by the reader who submitted this QoD.
