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A government serious about fighting crime doesn't just wait for it to happen, but keeps its citizenry under surveillance so that no one breaks the law in the first place.

That's the philosophy of government favored by New York City's mayor Rudolph Giuliani, as evidenced by the "quality of life" campaign he has waged in the city. Up to now, the targets of surveillance have been specific-- public cruisers, the homeless, porn theater wankers, jaywalkers, streetcorner windshield washers and marijuana entrepreneurs. But since anyone could fall into these categories, why not just watch everyone all the time? Mayor Giuliani's answer to that question has come in the form of two video cameras that sprouted in January atop poles in Washington Square Park-- the first of many more promised the city. The reply to the cameras came in the form of a demonstration in the park February 1 by more than 200 people, and spearheaded by the city's Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and the NAACP.

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Police contend the cameras are helpful in fighting the small-scale drug selling which has long been commonplace in Washington Square, a vibrant park in the heart of New York's Greenwich Village, one of the city's traditionally gayer neighborhoods. Police say the tapes will be erased after seven days, if there have been no complaints of an illegal activity or cops feel they have no investigatory use for them. The park is now already heavily patrolled, which has pushed drug dealing into neighboring streets where it was rare before.

The Gay and Lesbian Anti-Violence Project contends the cameras will put a damper as well on entirely natural highs-- like homosexual hand-holding and affection, now to be monitored remotely by police and captured on video. The group suggests a scenario in which closeted gay people from the suburbs who come to the city for a little gaiety would find themselves spied on and outted by suburban neighbors who happen to be New York City cops. Popular gay cruising areas, like the nearby Hudson River docks, would also be vulnerable to video surveillance.

"They're wrong, they're dangerous, and they don't work," says Bill Dobbs, an activist who spoke at the rally. "If the issue is fighting street crime, then the answer is more call boxes and better means to summon the police. The bad thing about these cameras is that they are generalized surveillance of the public. That's George Orwell come to life. As a gay man, I know the damage that surveillance has done to both the movement and individuals."