The Naugle Effect

In an effort to stem public sex on the beach, officials in Martin County, Florida are considering installing “talking” motion-detecting surveillance cameras. Upon detecting movement, the cameras would flash a bright light and play a pre-recorded announcement that the area was under surveillance. Recording would begin 30 seconds later. Martin County arrested six men in an undercover beach sex sting during the summer.

Perhaps mindful of the beach sex debacle in nearby Fort Lauderdale, Martin County’s tourism head Terry Monagan says the cameras would scare off tourists and may constitute invasion of privacy. Monagan: “My first reaction is that sounds pretty intrusive.”