Security cameras might help solve some of downtown Lawrence’s night-time safety problems, a city staff attorney said.

“Obviously, there are privacy issues raised by the use of cameras,” Scott Miller wrote during an online chat Friday on the Journal-World’s Web site.

“Part of those issues can be solved by camera placement, and part by the technology itself,” Miller wrote in response to a reader’s question about cameras being “awfully draconian.”

Miller gave the city staff’s recommendations last month to the Lawrence City Commission, which is concerned about downtown safety at the city’s bars and entertainment venues.

The commission has scheduled a public meeting for 5:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall, Sixth and Massachusetts streets.

Miller said because about 12 to 15 officers are on patrol at any one time throughout the city, security cameras can be useful “as sort of a force multiplier.”

“By using a technological resource, police officers could be routed to problem areas more efficiently to respond to events and perhaps prevent incidents from happening,” Miller wrote.

He said placing cameras so they monitor only public areas ensures that privacy rights are protected.

“In addition, the camera technology includes software that blanks out things like the windows of buildings so that the cameras may not be used to ‘window peep’ by an unscrupulous operator,” he wrote.

Miller said in an interview after the chat that the camera system being considered is similar to one being used at Kansas University.

“They monitor only public areas and not private areas,” he said.

Security cameras are also used in the Country Club Plaza neighborhood in Kansas City, Mo., he said.

“The areas that would be monitored are areas where someone would be able to see you if you were on the street,” he said.

To see the entire transcript of Miller’s chat, plus a video clip and to leave your own comments, go to http://www2.ljworld.com/news/chats/newsmakers/.