As it turns out, according to DiCiccio, “Mayor Greg Stanton wants to video tape law abiding football fans. It’s absurd that the Mayor of Phoenix thinks it’s OK to send Phoenix PD into Tempe to create a video profile of football fans. What happens with the video the Mayor thinks we should keep? The public should expect a reasonable level of privacy from their government. That means you cannot monitor their everyday activity without a direct policy and/or chain of command of approval before monitoring their activities. There should be reasonable cause to have the government enter your private life.”
Stanton defended the videotaping, saying he fully supported the intrusion. “Sadly, this is the reality in which we deal with. No one thought there would be a tragedy at the Boston Marathon, tragically there was,” said Stanton.
Stanton did not say whether there had been any threats or reason to believe that ASU’s tailgate parties would attract terrorists. Stanton added the city does not need probable cause for crowd surveillance during athletic events. “The suggestion is that we shouldn’t provide homeland security support to another jurisdiction unless it rises to the level where we’re ready to arrest somebody,” Stanton said at a press conference he called for in front of Chase Field.
“Mayor Stanton used politician language meant to confuse the public without answering the question. What level of privacy should a normal citizen expect from their government? That is the question that I asked,” said DiCiccio. “That is not the question he answered.”