Doing some snooping on who might be snooping on me

One of the guilty pleasures about television cop shows is the time-honored formula they follow. For decades, cop shows have moved to the same rhythms carried out by the same types of “cops.” There is the eager, cocky young cop being taught or ridiculed by the world-weary, wise veteran cop. Sometimes there are competing cops, with each one and their partner trying to one-up the other cops, only to eventually work together to solve the crime of the week. Their bosses are either tough-as-nails, growling old-school throwbacks, or modern, mushy, touchy-feely sorts.

And of course, the crime, be it murder, robbery, kidnapping, a bombing, terrorist threat, etc., is solved in a neat hour and then everyone goes home or to the bar to celebrate.

In recent years, minorities, women and a more diverse group of cops have graced the little screen, bringing the same secondary plots with them, ranging from alcohol abuse to marital problems to a dark past to work romances.

The usual cast of characters has a new, very up-to-date addition: The computer guy/gal, who can dig up the digital trail of any suspect or victim by pounding on a keyboard for a second and muttering about various data-bases or social media platforms.

The computer whiz is typically portrayed as a bit of a geek if not a complete eccentric with odd habits and hobbies, which is a nice contrast to the pistol-toting officers.

There is one aspect of this new electronic sleuth that has me a bit worried in real life. Scene after scene shows the compute cops “accessing” street cameras, or stop-light cameras, or surveillance cameras in a mind-numbing array of public spaces, from parks to parking lots to libraries or government offices. It seems like in the big cities where most cop shows take place, there is a camera on every block and every intersection to help spot the bad guys and gals. And according to television cop shows, there are crime breakers and crime scenes every other block.

All of that digital snooping seems a bit too much like Big Brother sticking his nose where it doesn’t belong, even if it’s for a good cause – crime prevention.

I am not overly paranoid. But I am also not a fan of appearing in a video while puttering around.

So I decided to do a little investigating, like a good cop. I wondered just how many cameras would “catch” me wandering around Bishop or the Eastern Sierra.

The Caltrans traffic cameras aren’t exactly super snoops. It seems like they mostly provide a “snapshot,” instead of a continuous video loop. Driving though the Coso Rest Area south of Olancha, or Lone Pine and you are safe from snooping video eyes unless you hit a “snapshot” window. The big CCTV map shows there are no traffic cameras in Bishop. No kidding. Nothing even right outside the District 9 HQ.

But I am not totally convinced. I’ve seen those cameras on the new pedestrian stop lights in Bishop, so maybe in some windowless basement in the HQ, there is a computer whiz/nerd watching six computer screens while tracking Bishop traffic, and my trips to the town’s bakeries, on the sly.

Going up US 395 there are only snapshot cameras at Tom’s Place, McGee Creek, Mammoth, Crestview, Obsidian Dome/June Lake and Conway Summit.

Ah, but there is a webcam running 24/7 on 395. It’s operated by the Mono Lake Committee and shows downtown Lee Vining. Sort of. In a fuzzy way. So you probably don’t need to hide in your hoody when driving through Lee Vining. But keep the hoody to hide in while driving around Lake Tahoe, since those traffic cameras are live and looping and watching.

The other local webcams belong to the Great Basin Air

Pollution Control District. Keeler, Owens Lake, Mono Lake, Laws and others. Great scenery, lots of wind and dust, but not much else.

How about Mammoth Lakes? Google says “yes, indeed, there are traffic cameras in Mammoth Lakes.”

See, it’s not being paranoid if someone is actually watching you.

Hmmm, the webpage is Traffic-Cams.com. Seems a little sketchy. Click on an image and – boom – up pops a demand to download an app and then something about blocking spam and – boom – in a blink I closed the page.

My fear of downloading massive computer viruses trying to snoop on me while I was trying to figure out who else might be snooping on me outweighed my minimal fears about being spied on while driving around.