nyc.general

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BY ELLEN TUMPOSKY

LONDON - Mayor Bloomberg has a message for New Yorkers who don't like
surveillance cameras: Get real.

"It's just ridiculous people who object to using technology," the
mayor said, adding that he had not talked with anyone in London who
wasn't "thrilled" at the presence of security cameras in their
capital.

The Daily News reported yesterday that a camera in lower Manhattan has
been secretly recording license plates in a test of the planned "Ring
of Steel" surveillance system.

The plates are compared against a database so the NYPD can immediately
know when a suspicious car or truck is in the area. London has such a
system in place in its financial district.

Bloomberg, appearing with London Mayor Ken Livingstone at a news
conference, said New Yorkers are "very naïve" if they don't realize
they are already being watched.

"We are under surveillance all the time," he said, pointing out that
cops grab video from private closed-circuit cameras when crimes are
committed.

As for privacy concerns, he said, "You've already given that away when
you buy a car and register it and put a license plate on the back,
which is basically putting your name on the back of the car."

Livingstone agreed that Londoners feel safer because of the cameras,
saying he couldn't recall a single letter of complaint.

The mayor called his visit a "busman's holiday." He rode a
double-decker bus with Livingstone, viewed a hybrid taxi and visited a
police control room, where he saw the original "Ring of Steel" in
action.

City of London Police Superintendent Alex Robertson said the
surveillance system to monitor every vehicle that enters the
square-mile financial district - known as the City of London - was
pioneered to combat IRA terrorism.

As a demonstration, he displayed a screen image of the car Bloomberg
arrived in. "I'm the handsome one in the back," Bloomberg quipped.

Noting that London has a camera in every bus and subway car, Bloomberg
said, "We are way behind and we really do have to catch up."

Bloomberg also talked about another London innovation he admires -
congestion pricing, introduced by Livingstone in 2003. Londoners pay
$16 to drive into the center of town. Bloomberg said he believed the
New York State Legislature would pass his plan to introduce pricing on
a pilot basis in the city.

The mayor, who has a home in London's posh Chelsea neighborhood, said
he expected to spend more time here once he leaves office.