fined in 264 million police words, 323 million mental

we histories, 279 million

fichiatric dossiers, and

W million credit files.

e justice department is

.w attempting to pass a

.w enabling federal law en— mcement officers to check

.entification of "suspects"

."fingerprints, palmprints,_ mtprints, measurements, Iood specimens, urine spec- lens, saliva samples, pho- graphs, and line—ups." And, according to Wash- gton Post, the FBI mainé :ins an "agitator index"‘ unaining the names of at ast 10 thousand so-called wtential subversives" to 'used as a basisxfior "fed— M_arrest in the event of war or an "internal sec- ny emergency". A new co? umer intelligence system,

I1975, will give law en— mcement officers the cap— Hy to determine instantly ‘esuspects subversive «ra- ng during an “internal se- fity emergency". ' American citizens are ecked in any case by the tefly necessary Social unity number, without ifiltheresident is not a Oper citizen. No bank C0unt can be opened with- tone, no employment can taken, and even infants “Hg off their parents' 1fare payments are requ— ed to wear one. Television surveillance

'"With the development of 8vision, and the technic- aévance which made it 'Slee to receive and "mMit simultaneously on 'SQMe instrument, private '? Came to an.end. Every 'Lgen could be kept fbr V Ours a day under the

'8 0f the police and in 'Sound of official prop- "da- " - 1984

mmed for full operation a

:rother is watc

systems have been installed in a number of US cities to televise "suspicious perso— ns". In St Jose, California; Hoboken,New Jersey; and Mou- nt Vernon, New York televis- ion cameras located in the CitieS' business centres can discern a man sized object in extreme darkness from more than half a mile away.

‘ Illegal telephone tap— ping is widespread and un— dertaken by private concerns (such as Bell Telephone it- self) as well as government departments (as proven by the many charges dismissed

because of illegal wiretaps). Grocery stores fingerprint customers to ensure their cheques won't bounce.

Except for the latter, none of these practices is more openly chilling than

the sight of three or four “

hekicopters in the night sky, their spotlights sweeping the streets. Airborne sur— veillance has undergone nat- ional proliferation since

the success of a trial pro- ject in Los'Angeles in 1966.

Seventeen police depart— ments in the area now use helicopters equipped with spotlights and public addr- ess systems, and the latest ones ordered by the nearby San Fernando sheriff will also be armed with submach- ine guns.

The environment suffers as well as the people. In Huntingdon Beach, near Los Angeles, where the cops use straight winged aircraft, a long line of plam trees have, been chopped on top to per— mit adequate airborne sur— veillance.

The helicopters are sup- ported in Los Angeles by ground police armed'with ma- chine guns and automatic ri- fles._ And part of their ps— ychology includes what is ' unassumingly titled the Ba- sic Car Plan.

_ Simply explained, it_ali—

'while.

THE CADRE ,1

hing

In his classic novel 1984, George Orwell wrote of

JANUARY 26, 1973 PAGE 5

you

an era of the future - an era of total elimination of private life, when everyone's every action would be under the careful surveillance of "the Party", personified by the legendary leader "Big Brother". Hidden microphones and television screens would record people's words and movements, so every word and action had to be a carefully guarded one.

All this, of course, would be done in the name of protection of the very human rights it was denying. The stdte would be acting in "the best interests of the people". Surveillance of subversives would prevent any opposition to the state. Even thinking in any way opposed to the state policies, would be a crime. Al

this in the year 1984.

And 1984, says Philip west, is approaching on schedule. sound ridiculous? Read on. And if you say, "That’s the United States, not Canada”, remember what close neighbours we are. Remember the war Measures Act of 1970 when citizens could be arrested without charge and when the press was stifled. Recall dis— cussions at the federal government level of the idea of having identification cards that all citizens would be required to carry at all times.

It’s all very frightning.

enates one strata of soc— iety and uses it as infor— mants against another life- style. Police interpretat- ion: "If someone disturbs you in your neighbourhood, chances are he's disturbing everyone else too, and is therefore breaking the law.” In Indiana, this devel— ops‘into a plan for a nei— ghbourhood spy network. This proposal calls for hiring " "rumour monitors" to report

"possible dangerous situat- ions" to "city officials". Said the director of the agency proposing the scheme: "We might not be able to tr~ ust our neighbours afterma But as long as we're not doing anything wrong, we shouldn't have to worry, I don't suppose."

“It was almost normal for people over thirty to be frightened of their own children. And with good reason, for hardly a week

- passed in which The Times

did not carry a paragraph describing how some eaves- dropping little sneak - 'child—hero' was the phrase generally used — had over- heard some compromising remark and denounced its parents to the Thought Police." - 1984

Helicopter use is not co— nfined to cities. In many states, speeding drivers on the nationwide network of defense department interst— ate freeways, are clocked

.from the air over marked di-

stances and highway patrol cars are dispatched to ticket

the offending drivers.

‘The cops are happy with the results of helicopter use. Sergeant Danny Shea of {the Los Angeles Police Dep— artment says the aircraft have allowed elimination of decoy squads (to encourage and then trap victims) while

still reducing the number of muggings and rapings.

"If we spot something go- ing on, we just flash the light on and take a look. Some of the guys don't like that too much, but the girls always smile and wave so we' 11 know everything's all ri— ght- " ,

A more intellectual coll- eague extolled airborne su— rveillance as "a tremendous psychological tool- a sort of silent perSuader."

"A party member lives from birth to death under , the eye of the Thought Pol- ice. Even when he is alone, he can never be sure that he is alone. Wherever he may be, asleep or awake, working or resting, in his bath or in bed, he can be inspected without warning and without knowing that he is being inspected.” — 1984

But the silencer is none too effective and the noise of the choppers is still a problem.

Helicopter manufacturers Bell and Hughes have promis- ed police quieter aircraft within a few months to eli— minate protests like the one

from more than 1000 resid— ents in Newport Beach, com- plaining about the noise. (In response, the city coun— cil promised to consider use of higher altitudes.)

At the same time, police in Los Angeles and in cities like Washington DC and‘San Diego, California are issu~ ing propaganda to sell resi— dents on helicopter noise as "the sound of security".

Sergeant Shea has a much more simple defense:"Just think," he says, "if the go— od people don't like the noise a police helicopter makes, imagine how it sca- res the hell out of the bad

guys."