Three weeks ago the D.C. Council passed emergency legislation to deal with a spike in violent crime. Among the provisions endorsed by the council was the installation of 23 surveillance cameras throughout the District, at a cost of $2.3 million. But where would the cameras go? Police Chief Charles Ramsey indicated that he would allow Advisory Neighborhood Commissions (ANCs) — local neighborhood representatives — to propose sites which the police would then review.

Today the Georgetown Current is reporting that the ANC covering Georgetown and Burleith has voted to recommend that 13 cameras — seven priority locations and six other locations — be placed throughout the area. Writes the Current:

The top priorities would cover all the major entrances and exits to the Burleith and Georgetown neighborhoods. They include: 34th and M streets, Wisconsin Avenue and Whitehaven Parkway, 37th Street and Reservoir Road, 28th and M streets, the Q Street bridge, 29th and K streets and 26th and P streets.

This news presents the police with an obvious dilemma — 23 cameras, 37 ANCs, 69 square miles of District land to watch. How can they manage it?

The danger is that these cameras be placed in locations that have more active ANCs and thus more sway, crime levels notwithstanding. It was to be expected that Georgetown — where one of the most gruesome killings this summer occurred — would flex its muscle and demand cameras. But thirteen of them? And arranged along the major entrances and exits of the neighborhood? Is a moat around the neighborhood in the works?

We’ll hold further judgment until see exactly where the cameras will be placed. While we sympathize with the nervousness some Georgetown residents might feel, we can’t help but think that they’re overreacting, if just by a touch. We never much favored the option of installing these surveillance cameras, but if they are to be placed anywhere, they should be placed where they would make the most difference, not where the most skittish residents live.