Richard Liebson

The (Westchester County, N.Y.) Journal News

Ordinance affects pharmacies%2C businesses that sell alcohol%2C check cashing businesses%2C among others

Owners can be jailed for up to 15 days and fined a maximum of %24250 a day if they don%27t comply

Some businesses concerned about having to pay for system and doing surveillance for police

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Walk into any of the dozens of bars, liquor stores, pawn shops, convenience stores and certain other businesses in White Plains, N.Y., and Big Brother won't just be watching — he'll be passing along what he sees to the cops.

A new local law unanimously adopted by the Common Council last week requires certain merchants to install and maintain digital video camera systems to view and record quality video of everyone who enters, and to make those videos available to police on demand.

"The purpose of this ordinance is to improve public safety and security by deterring persons from committing crimes and/or acts of disorder and to assist with the identification of violators," Public Safety Commissioner David Chong wrote in a letter to the Common Council urging the law's passage.

The new law affects an estimated 250 businesses in White Plains. City officials and merchants say the video systems cost $1,000 to $2,000.

Scheduled to take effect in February 2015, the new ordinance affects pharmacies; any business licensed to sell alcohol; pawn shops; licensed secondhand dealers who buy and sell precious metals; check cashing businesses; and businesses open between midnight and 4 a.m. Business owners who don't comply can be jailed for up to 15 days and fined a maximum of $250 a day until the cameras are up and running.

"We went to the mayor with it, and he agreed that it was a good idea," Police Chief James Bradley said of the law.

He told the Common Council during a January work session that the use of video "is one of the growing trends in our profession. It has helped us solve a number of high-profile crimes more quickly. ... When a case is in court, juries ask for DNA and video."

While many communities in the region have street cameras that are monitored by police or traffic officials, White Plains is believed to be the first in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties to require businesses to buy, install and maintain such equipment for law enforcement purposes.

Similar laws are on the books in Milwaukee, Chicago, San Francisco and other cities across the country. New York City's cabaret law also includes a video surveillance requirement.

"I'm all for businesses installing video surveillance equipment and I would encourage them to do so, but I object to the government telling them that they have to do it, that they have to pay for it, and that they'll be fined if they don't," said Al Samuels, president and CEO of the Rockland Business Association.

"I've never heard of anything like this," said Samuels, whose organization represents more than 1,000 small businesses in the county. "I understand it, and I support the use of video surveillance, but this is just one more burden that a local government wants to place on business. It's not a bad idea, but if the government wants it, the government should pay for it."

Four years ago, Domingo Moronta, owner of Domingo's Deli & Pizza in White Plains, spent $2,500 on a four-camera digital video system with a monitor he can see from the counter and watch from his computer at home. He said it will comply with the new law.

"I think it will help keep crime down," he said of the new law. "If they know you have a system, it will make people think twice before they try anything, especially if they know most of the stores have cameras. It's a good idea."

Moronta said he discovered the virtues of video surveillance when he first opened 10 years ago.

"I learned the hard way," he said. "We had a burglary our first year and I didn't have surveillance cameras. I was lucky — the guy smashed through the glass door and cut his hand, and the police caught him a couple of weeks later from DNA. He told the detectives that he came in a few times before the robbery and saw that we didn't have cameras. I bought a camera system right after that, and I've upgraded it since then."

Stuart Levine, owner of the Vino 100 wine shop, said he had some reservations about the law, although his store's video system will comply.

Levine is a board member of the White Plains Business Improvement District, which the city worked with in crafting the law.

"I felt that it cuts into our privacy a little bit," he said. "The police have come in before, when they were looking for someone, and asked if they could see our store video, and I said sure. But there's a difference between the police asking for help and forcing us, under a law, to do surveillance for them."

Bennett Gershman, a Pace University law professor, said there are no privacy issues in the new legislation.

"The only argument against it that I can see is a modest cost to the merchants, but that's minimal," said Gershman. "I think this is extremely reasonable and certainly serves a public safety purpose. It really serves to protect the businesses and their customers — I think the merchants would happily comply, because it's in their own interest."