Monday night, the Evanston City Council approved 7-2 a measure to use grant money to add security cameras to 15 crime-heavy street corners in downtown, south and west Evanston. The city will not be spending any of its own money on the cameras, as the grant covers the installation and the first three years of operation.

According to Evanston Police Department Chief Richard Eddington, the cameras will not be watched constantly. They will only be used when a crime has been reported, and the cameras will be used to assess the situation, not to create entrapment.

The Daily is fine with this, especially considering that no taxpayer money will be used to support them. We understand the purpose of the cameras, and a police officer could see the street corners in question on a routine beat patrol.

There are, however, a few things that must be guaranteed before we fully put our support behind it.

First, it’s an old cliché, but putting up security cameras is without a doubt a slippery slope. If the 15 cameras work, what would stop Evanston from putting cameras at every street corner, or in alleys? Could the policy be changed to the point where the cameras are being used in constant or near-constant surveillance, with the police trying to spot crimes via the camera feed?

The Daily hopes not, but there is no way to be completely sure. Once the cameras are installed, it becomes difficult to regulate the way the police use them. Evanston and the police department have to guarantee today that will not happen tomorrow.

Second, this won’t solve the crime problems in Evanston. It is entirely possible that the crime from these crime-heavy streets will simply move to areas where cameras are not an issue. Better allocation of human and material resources will go much further.

Again, as the issue stands now, The Daily is happy about the cameras. It is important, though, that the program does not expand to the point where civil liberties are encroached or the program eats up any of Evanston’s already strained resources.