Back To The Future For CCTV Policing
“CCTV: Does it actually work?” asks the Scotsman.
This question is positioned on the paper’s front page, and in a bid to answer it Anorak has been stood beneath a CCTV camera by a factory in Clyde waiting for a cue.
In the meanwhile, we read that only one in seven incidents caught on camera in Scotland was followed by an arrest at the scene.
Readers learn that in an attempt to make CCTV more effective at deterring crime, officials in Glasgow are contemplating using lights and speakers on cameras that can be activated when the network operator believes a crime is about to occur.
The operator should shout something like “Stop thief” and shine the light. It’s a big improvement on the policing of old, and if the operative can have a whistle and control a long robotic arm, preferably one linked to the national grid, then so much the better.
Says Patrick Harvie, a Green MSP: “Successive governments have, without public consultation or consent, brought in a radical surveillance society. There are now more cameras per person in Britain than anywhere else on the planet, despite the Home Office’s own research showing that CCTV cannot be deemed a success.
Says Bill Aitken, the justice spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives: “CCTV is all well and good, but it simply doesn’t work if there is nobody to answer the call. We need extra police officers on the street to deal with these incidents being spotted.”
On with the experiment. Can we steal the CCTV camera without being noticed?
Posted: 26th, May 2008 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
