After reading that a New Jersey school system gives local police a live feed to their surveillance cameras, it’s time to pull my copy of George Orwell’s 1984 off the shelf.

No, I am not one of those fellows who worry that Big Brother is watching. But I do think we’re setting up an infrastructure—and mindset—that is dangerous ground for the future.

Proponents of surveillance cameras will scoff at my concerns. Surveillance cameras are going up all over the nation’s schools—and streets—and one emergency management official dismissed privacy concerns by saying “the value we gain in public safety far outweighs any perception by the community that this is Big Brother who’s watching.”

That mindset comforts me a whole lot—particularly after surveillance cameras did nothing to stop a 14-year-old gunman from walking into a Cleveland school, wounding four people and shooting himself.

Ask anyone in school safety, and they’ll tell you that gadgets are nowhere near as effective in stopping school violence as teachers who build good relationships with students, administrators who intervene with troubled youth, and schools that build a healthy school climate where students respect and care for one another.

That’s why I’d like to see school officials turn first to more effective methods of stopping crime and violence than the cold and unblinking stare of Big Brother.

Now excuse me. I feel a need to look over my shoulder to see who might be watching.

Del Stover, Senior Editor