Thank You America For Helping Us Catch Pickpockets . . . And For Finally Being Able To Correctly Identify Suicide Bombers Long After The Fact

Apparently for those in charge, distinctions between “everyday crime” and terrorism have all but disappeared:

Thirty-six high-tech cameras will be installed at three subway stops in Astoria as part as of an anti-terror security plan.

“What began as an anti-terror initiative in response to both 9/11 and the bombings in London has now proven to be a very successful tool to combat everyday crime,” State Assemb. Michael Gianaris (D-Queens) said Tuesday.

The cameras, paid for with $1.7 million in state and federal funds, will be installed at the Broadway, 30th Avenue and Astoria Boulevard stops along the N/W line. Each station will be outfitted with 12 cameras, most of them positioned at the entrances and exits.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-Queens/Brooklyn), who worked with Gianaris to secure funding for the cameras, said a 2003 al-Qaida plot to release poisonous gas in the subways shows how vulnerable the system is.

But Gene Russianoff, staff attorney for the Straphangers Campaign, said he isn’t convinced adding a few dozen cameras will improve safety. But, he added, “It’s like chicken soup, it can’t hurt.”

(Am I just becoming ridiculously stupidly civil rights- minded now that the threat of terrorism is gone?)