Chief Vetoes Bar-surveillance Idea

Melvin J. Kodenski, the attorney for Shirley's Honey Hole, said the new draft as described by a reporter is fine with him. Referring to the demise of the live video feed, he said, "If the Police Department can live without it, we aren't going to object."

Just how officials forged the original deal remained murky Thursday. Representatives from all sides spread the blame and suggested it bubbled up in the heat of plea discussions in a hallway outside a conference room at police headquarters moments before the padlock hearing was to begin.

Kodenski said police expressed concern that Barner keeps her tavern door locked and patrons have to be buzzed inside, and it was sometimes difficult for them to quickly and efficiently gain access to her tapes. Barner said she didn't object to the police accessing the video via the Internet or WiFi, and that led to discussions about working out a way for police to monitor the cameras in real time.

That Barner was agreeing to open her bar to constant police scrutiny as part of a plea deal raised questions as to whether she had voluntarily consented to the idea, as police had said on Monday. Both police and Barner's attorney disputed who first mentioned real-time surveillance.

"I'm not sure if it was anyone's idea," Kodenski said Thursday. "It seemed like a good idea and then later everyone thought of Big Brother."

Guglielmi agreed that the implications were "sort of glazed over" at the beginning.

Now, the spokesman said, the police commissioner believes that "it is not the place for government inside a private business."