“Block clubs, community organizations want cameras. … They can’t walk down the street. … Their kids have to go around a corner away from the gang-bangers. You can’t walk to church. You can’t get on the CTA. … Cameras really prevent much crime. Cameras also solve a lot of crime. The terrorist attacks in London were solved by cameras. The whole incident was solved by cameras,” Daley said.

Two years ago, with help from a $5.1 million federal homeland security grant, the city announced plans to install 250 cameras at locations thought to be at high risk of a terrorist attack, link them and 2,000 existing cameras to the 911 center and equip them all with software capable of spotting “suspicious and unusual behavior.”

Chicago City Hall is now finalizing a contract for “Operation Virtual Shield,” Daley’s Big Brother plan to link 1,000 miles of “sometimes stand-alone fiber” into a unified “homeland security grid” — complete with sensors to monitor the city’s water supply and detect chemical and biological weapons.