75°
70º | 76°
A majority of the Houston City Council voted to approve an ordinance on Wednesday (April 20) that requires certain businesses to install and operate outdoor security cameras, according to a report from Houston ABC affiliate KTRK.
The ordinance requires bars, nightclubs, sexually-oriented businesses, convenience stores and game rooms to set up cameras with a view of their parking lots, KTRK reported.
Mayor Pro-tem Martha Castex-Tatum issued a stern warning to would-be criminals.
"Today, we are letting people know, if you are loitering outside of convenience stores, sexually-oriented businesses, bars and committing crimes, we will see you on camera," Castex-Tatum said, per KTRK. "And if you are committing those crimes, we will make sure that you will pay the penalty for causing a nuisance in the City of Houston."
The vote for the ordinance was 15-1, with Councilman Mike Knox, an ex-police officer, as the lone dissenter, according to a report from Houston CBS affiliate KHOU.
"Yes, we would like to have lots of cameras," Knox said, the station reported. There’s plenty of ways to do this voluntarily, encouraging or incentivizing people to volunteer to do these things."
According to Castex-Tatum, the cameras will be a solution to the city's growing crime problem.
"What we did today was let [citizens] know their safety is very important to us," she said, per KTRK.
The station reported that the ordinance additionally requires establishments to install their cameras within a 90-day window and keep all footage for a minimum of 30 days.
KHOU reported that the ordinance received criticism from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas.
Savannah Kumar, an attorney with the nonprofit organization, asserted the city council "ignored the law."
"Their vote demonstrated a willingness to push aside constitutional protections and subject Houstonians to overbroad police searches," Kumar said, according to KHOU. "But a city cannot override the Constitution."