Letters to the Editor
Flock cameras: Are they a necessary evil, or just evil?
At the time of writing, there are 16 Flock Safety cameras operating in Pahrump, gathering data on the license plates and vehicle descriptions of residents as they go about their daily lives. Probably the vast majority of us are law-abiding citizens, not committing any crimes. My question is, why should our movements be tracked by a private company without cause?
In fact, every month across the U.S. more than 20 billion cars are being tracked by this company using over 135,000 cameras. Why should any private company be able to obtain this amount of information without specific reason? If I go to Home Depot to pick up a bag of salt for my water softener and don’t commit a crime whilst doing so, what business is it of theirs?
A lot of people say “Well, if you aren’t doing anything wrong, what does it matter?” My response is, if I’m not doing anything wrong, why am I being tracked?
This type of surveillance should only be a means to an end, not just the mass collection of data “just in case” someone commits a crime. If law enforcement suspects someone of committing a crime, go ahead and surveil them as part of the investigation, but having a database of the movements of law-abiding citizens is an unnecessary intrusion into our privacy.
Some may argue that our smart phones are tracking us anyway, and that may be true. The difference is, we allow our phones to do that by choice, and we can turn off that feature if we so desire. Also, law enforcement cannot access that information without a warrant.
Businesses such as Home Depot have security cameras throughout their stores to watch for shoplifters or other bad behavior as they enter or leave the store - I see no reason or benefit to them to know the vehicle descriptions of everyone entering their parking lot. There are also a number of Flock cameras at the entrances to Mountain Falls. Why? To monitor the comings and goings of the residents? How rude! Big Brother is watching your every move!
As I write this the day after midterm elections, it would appear that we will have a new sheriff in 2027. I’m very interested to hear his viewpoint about the use of Flock cameras. Yes, I should have asked him before the elections but just never had the chance.
Stay safe my fellow Pahrumpians, and ALWAYS value the privacy afforded us by our wonderful Constitution and question those who apparently don’t.
Gary Howes
Reader says postal service is broke; needs changing
The U.S. Postal Service is ‘broke’ because the Union insists that workers be there in place, and sometimes doing nothing, because workers are guaranteed their hours of labor and thus their pay. It is a scam. If the postal service were operated in much the same way as UPS or FedEx or DHL, there would not be the money loss leakage we have.
Instead, many postal workers are scheduled and expected to be at work when there is no mail. The mail lapses on Saturday. By Sunday afternoon there is oftentimes literally nothing to process in the mail processing centers. The work begins to drift in as the carriers go out and collect it on Monday afternoons. Sometimes the clerks will process through already sorted mail just to have something to do.
They have to be worked and cannot be sent home unless they request to be sent home, utilizing unpaid time off or holiday or personal day-off pay. It is ridiculous. If workers could be sent home when there is no mail, we could save billions in employee expense. Instead, they are brought in and given oftentimes nothing to do or sent to other areas where magazines have not been sorted because those workers were scheduled poorly and that work has not been done. That is why you get eight magazines and catalogues delivered to you the same day and none for weeks afterward. It is insane.
The union holds the key. Workers can simply refuse the work and sit around and do nothing because they are not obligated, or even allowed, to ‘cross crafts’. It is embarrassing and very wasteful. The “Big Three” can handle the package business easily. The postal service sucks at it. USPS should handle First Class letters only. This would move the mails rapidly and save billions of dollars. Carriers would only have mail to handle letters and not packages in addition. Then we wouldn’t need as many carriers. Packages hold them back and they hate it. Let’s lift all boats and do this properly. It needs to be done.
Mary Schott
