Ludington City Government: They See You Poo in Public

[XLFD]

I found a whole lot of surveillance cameras this last week in Ludington public restrooms, fourteen total, twelve hidden.  I would not be surprised if there were more.

 

I went to the Ludington City Hall tonight, August 26, 2013, looking to get the City Hall to quit breaking the law and invading the privacy of our guests and citizens in illegal and illicit public bathroom surveillance.  For having such a quaint notion, I was upbraided by several Ludington public officials, beginning with ZBA/Board of Review member Wallace Cain, continuing with Mayor John Henderson, City Manager John Shay, City Attorney Richard Wilson, and ending with a see/hear/say-no-evil bit by Police Captain Mike Harrie, sitting in for Police Chief Mark Barnett, who was home "watching the movies", if you know what I mean.  The whole amoral bunch will have their ridiculous comments ridiculed when the video from this meeting becomes available (except for Harrie's, whose comments came after the meeting).  Here was the public comment I gave, complete with pictures, and links that are only available here.

 

"Tom Rotta reclining at 137 E Dowland Street. 

 

Tonight I want to discuss criminal law and its implications as regards the continued illegal surveillance of our citizens and our guests in areas where they deserve to have their privacy respected.  It also ties in with my FOIA appeal, which due to an unwritten change of policy in these proceedings, I have not been able to give my side of the appeal at the last few meetings where I have appealed to this body for justice under state FOIA law. 

I humbly ask the city council to re-establish the right to state my case for appeal in FOIA matters, since the City has seemingly proven time and again that they have no interest in transparency by violating the Open Meetings Act and FOIA at will.

 

In the Michigan Penal Code, section 750.539(J) it says:    "A person shall not... Surveil, Photograph, or otherwise capture or record another individual... under circumstances in which the individual would have a reasonable expectation of privacy."   As far as definitions, 'person' can refer to a body corporate, such as the City of Ludington, and "reasonable expectation of privacy" has historically covered bathrooms, even public bathrooms.  When one steps up to a urinal, or one sits on a toilet, he expects to do so with privacy, and should not be able to look up and see a recording camera pointed at his private parts.   This is a felony violation.

 

And this is what happens at the Waterfront Park's men's room.  I set up a ladder and took a picture with my camera placed in front of their illegal surveillance lens and at the same angle and I took this still picture."

"As you can see the toilet and urinal fixtures are plainly visible, as is much of the common areas.  From this angle, the City Government knowingly videotapes a profile of you at the urinal where they can see your 'Johnson'.  Notice you can clearly see the handicap assistance bar around the toilet; that is the same height as most men's private parts. 

But this one camera is not the only illegal camera in the men's room there."

 

"You will notice a vent right above the men's stall where it looks as though a little damage has happened to one of the vertical slats.  A zoom into that particular vent reveals:"

 

[Another view here] "A camera pointing down, discretely recording more bathroom activity.  It is hard to determine where exactly this camera is pointing but its purpose appears to be to record activity where men expect privacy.   But women at the Waterfront Park have 'eyes in the sky too.  They not only have the obvious camera pointing mainly at common areas, they also have a "duct" camera."

 

 

"Here is a faraway shot showing another busted slat in the ventilation."

 

 

"And here is a zoomed shot of the hidden camera in the woman' restroom.  What is the purpose of this hidden camera in the women's restroom pointed down over the stalls?  I can only guess at lewd and lascivious purposes.  But let's take a look at other public restrooms maintained by our City Hall.  Here's the men's room at the North James Plaza:"

 

 

"The break in the ventilation screen is less noticeable, but the camera is obviously there."

 

 

"Once you zoom into the bottom left side, a closer look sees that this hidden camera goes back to the City's locked maintenance room.  The women's side appears to have the same type of well-hidden camera in their duct.

But one could claim that these were put there long ago, by some unknown pervert that once worked for the City.  When we take a look at the new $100,000 men's and women's restrooms in Stearn's north bathrooms, however, we find that someone has put covert cameras in to look at you in your most private moments."

 

 

When you sit down at the first men's stall, you look up and see a hard-wired smoke detector, but this in itself is odd since the original blueprints for this bathroom has the smoke detector's above the stall, and the electrical floor plan...

 

 

"... created for this renovation shows no connection for a hard-wired 'anything' in that area.  But when we take a zoom into this "smoke detector..."

 

 

"... you see some camera lenses pointed at you and your crotch.  You then go to the second stall:"

 

 

"And again see the 'smoke detector'.  But guess what?  It sees you too!"

 

"What an infringement of your privacy!  But seriously, could the City spend money on such things as smoke detector cameras?  Yup, as seen by this receipt here."

 

 

"The first item is a color smoke detector camera purchased in 2000.  And how did I get this document?  A FOIA request for the invoices of the purchase of the Waterfront Park security cameras.  Not too surprisingly, the hidden ventilation cameras were not part of the invoice.  [My time was up at this point, I continue with my prepared statement.] DPW Director and Ludington School Board member Shawn McDonald was the contact for these purchases.

The women's bathroom at Stearn's Park also has a smoke detector camera able to look at each of the stalls there.  Remember, the renovation was done earlier this summer."

 

"This is the first stall's close-up view."

"This is the second stall's close-up view."

 

"And this is the third.  All shots were taken while sitting on the toilets.  Whenever you sit in this restroom, you and your privacy is invaded by one or more people at City Hall, with approval from the highest authority.  And is there a public interest in this privacy invasion?  I'd like to hear it, and I invite the police chief to come with me after the meeting to further look at these cameras and discuss the implications of their placement."

For more photos and analysis (added 8-29 at 7:17 PM):  supplementary-photo-pack-ludington-sees-you-poo-in-public

For an explanation of what those odd devices in Stearn's Park really are, check this out (added 8-30-2013 at 7:45 PM):  some-relief-for-the-understandably-paranoid-folks-in-ludington

[Steve H.]

Are there any notices outside the bathrooms that indicate that the defecator or micturitator is being watched with video cameras? possibly with audio? And then what exactly do they do with the evidence if they spot a couple of gay blades sharing a glory hole? Have any arrests been made over this period of time? 

Also in FL, if the "officials" decline to release any public records and unnecessarily censor any of the material, you can file a lawsuit and probably win and the city has to pay your lawyers' legal fees and costs. 

[XLFD]

The women and men have two entrances at the Waterfront Park restrooms on the north and south of each.  There is one sign next to the women's south entrance, that's it.  A small "surveillance camera" sticker at the bottom of the men's mirror makes one believe there is only one camera in there. 

The North James restroom has no signs on either, but signs of recent vandalism in the vicinity where the hidden vent camera looks to be pointing on the men's side. 

The north and south entrances also exist at the Stearn's north restrooms, again with no indication you are under surveillance.  But the "humidity detectors" have four lenses each.

[wayne]

John Shay is acting as the gatekeeper for the permanent recordings & possible misuse & potential distribution of my bathroom sessions?   If that is the case, John Shay has some very serious questions he needs to answer.  

[Willy]

In tuesday's LDN the "City Attorney" says the Supreme Court ruled that cameras are allowed in the "common area" of a restroom. What the "City Attorney" seems not to understand is that the cameras may be allowed [I'm debating if that is correct] but those cameras cannot be pointing into a stall or urinal areas. Either the LDN has botched the reporting and misqouted the "City Attorney" or he has grossly mininterpreted the law. Either way the people of Ludington have been saddled with either inompetent reporters or an incompetent "City Attorney". Maybe both. They have certainly been bestowed with incompetent City Counselors, Mayor and City Manager.

[AQUAMAN]

Good catch Willy, the incompetency factor is there for certain with all these parties imho. But I think it goes a step further, esp. with the city attorney, his statements are intentionally for covering up their errors, which are now becoming big mistakes. An error doesn't become a mistake, unless you fail to correct it, (JFK). These people, as witnessed in many other areas of concern to the public, perceive themselves as perfect, never making any errors, and/or never admitting to them publicly. This whole episode should be of "utmost concern" to the City of Ludington's public and taxpayers! I predict this error will backfire on them in statewide publicity in the near future. You can only sweep so many errors under the carpet before it catches up!

[XLFD]

The MCP are also reporting along lines that give only the City's view, but that's okay, because the City is painting itself into a corner with their claims and our area's news reporters are looking rather foolish, IMHO.  Their carpet is a couple feet off the ground with a firm foundation of dirt.

[wayne]

1. how many cameras do we not know about?   2.  uncooperative officials.  

Monopolizing on public bathroom surveillance while withholding the review process & demonstrating efficacy of such is no excuse to use surveillance.  I bet a court (other than Cooper) will agree.  

[wayne]

Hey, how about contacting some of the many tourist organizations & people who have visited Ludington in the last 15 years?  How are they going to feel about all of their bathroom activities archived somewhere & potentially used for other purposes?    

[XLFD]

One could hope we could prove the point without having to damage the local tourist industry.  Bringing awareness of the problem may accomplish results that affect it negatively, but then there would be more of a reason to get rid of internal bathroom cameras. 

If they can justify the cost, the City can put cameras most anywhere that people don't have a reasonable expectation of privacy, IMHO.  But I hope those places would also allow the cameras to act as deterrents, not for casual spying.

[wayne]

If 1 camera pointed at the vicinity of the bathroom entrance would be sufficient to satisfy their control freak compulsions as well as an attorney with an over active imagination should a matter come to court.   Having cameras in bathrooms?   I as a tourist would want to know about such patently maniacal behaviour & put a big red X over any area that displays such behavior.  I have interest in preserving liberty, & I hope you do also.    But again, what are they actually doing with the information & who else is benefiting from this?

[wayne]

It needs to be proven what exactly the information is used for.   Digital information is easily transmitted around the globe for many reasons other than public safety.  

[Jane]

I have no problem with a camera tracking who goes in and out of the restrooms, vandalism is an issue with those sorts of public places. But a camera OUTside of the restrooms could just as easily track those entering and leaving.

Oh and wtf is a 'humidity' detector anyway???? do they have DE-humidifiers that kick on in the bathrooms *roll eyes* yeah right!