What has it come to when you can’t get naked on the beach and bump uglies.

STUART — That big booming voice Martin County beachgoers might hear next year along the sandy shores will not be coming from the heavens.

It may be Martin County officials trying to scare off people looking for sex on the beach.

The county is exploring the idea of installing “talking” cameras at several of the public beaches to ward off or catch people engaged in public sex.

“I’m all for it,” said Commission Chairman Michael DiTerlizzi, who first proposed putting Web cams at beaches after several recent arrests of men soliciting men for sex at county beaches. “Anything that deters that kind of activity is going to be good.”

FlashCAM devices sense motion and then flash a bright light, said David Graham, assistant to County Administrator Duncan Ballantyne.

After being activated, the cameras issue a pre-recorded verbal warning to let people know they are under surveillance, Graham said. Sixty seconds later, they start recording.

The cameras, which the California company of Q-Star Technology makes, are solar powered and can be connected to light poles or even trees along the shores, Graham said.

In July, a sheriff’s office sting caught six men at two county beaches on charges of either exposing themselves to undercover officers or soliciting them for sex.

Last weekend, a Martin County teacher was arrested and charged with exposing himself to an undercover deputy.

DiTerlizzi’s call for surveillance also comes after several high-profile arrests statewide and nationally involving elected officials soliciting sex in bathrooms.

The commissioner said he wants cameras watching everywhere on the beaches and parking lots but not in the public bathrooms because it would be an invasion of privacy.

Invasion of privacy? At least Senators will still be able to hook up in bathrooms.

Source:PBP

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