World leaders in CCTV

Call me paranoid – but I am beginning to worry about the proliferation of CCTV cameras in this country.  There are so many that they cannot possibly serve any real purpose – other than a vague deterrent or to remind vandals to pull up their hoodies.  Apparently there are more CCTV cameras peering at us in the UK than any other country on earth. 

 

I noticed that there is now a CCTV system installed in our local pub.  There is one peering menacingly across the car park – but as far as I can see none in the gents.   What on earth can the point be?   I suppose all those cameras on stations can identify would be terrorists and other criminals (usually long after they have done their nefarious crimes).  But do we really value our privacy so little that we are prepared to be filmed dozens if not hundreds of times a day as we go about our business?

 

The local shopping centre has a CCTV system in place.  I suspect they all do.  But here’s the thing – as I was peering up at a camera I noticed it move.  Now I am not suggesting for one moment I am photogenic… but it suggests that occasionally there are people operating these things… maybe zooming in on an attractive girl or bloke.  It all seems really rather sordid and seedy.

 

Does having all these CCTV cameras watching us actually work?  Usually a there is somebody in the police who can be wheeled out to suggest they are a good thing.  But we need to remember that they also think speed cameras (sorry neighbourhood safety cameras) are a good thing.  Rather tellingly a Home Office report is, shall we say, a little bit ambivalent on the subject.

 

The key point is just how ineffectual they are at stopping crime… and worst of all how many of those awful, cheap television shows they provide footage for.  One way or another I can’t help thinking CCTV cameras are at best pointless and at worst a genuine intrusion in our privacy.  It’s a pity we as a nation are so tolerant of the damn things.

Somebody’s watching me

Big news in my local newspaper.   My local bowling club has been burgled.  Whilst this may have inconvenienced some pensioners, there is nothing unusual in that snippet of news you might think.   Apart from the fact that they have now put up two CCTV cameras.  When you add them to the four around the village hall and the whole battery at the school, that’s quite a lot of snooping going on in one tight-knit village community. 

But there is more snooping going on that that.  The posh house at the end of the road has a camera on the gate.  In Town, I once counted nearly 100 cameras on my walk from the station to work.  We are a nation obsessed with filming people going about their everyday business.  Police officers and traffic wardens are now wearing security cameras as part of their uniform.  And actually now I think about it the nesting box in my rose arch has a camera in it too!  So we are beginning to snoop on our innocent feathered friends too. 

Ever stop to think how many times you appear on CCTV every day?  4.2 million!  That’s one for every 14 of us – the highest number anywhere in the world.  Someone somewhere calculated that on average each of us is now filmed 300 times a day.  No wonder the industry has in CCTV core its own society and on-line news source

But what is the point?  Do they stop crime?  No apparently not – crime rates have not come down despite the cameras breeding like rabbits.  Only 3% of London’s street robberies have been solved using CCTV footage.  And when there is a particularly horrific crime, the best a CCTV camera seems to come up with is a grainy and unusable bit of film given an airing on Crimewatch.

But CCTV is just one of the more visible parts of our surveillance society.  There are scores of security companies to help you with your security. If you really want to feel protected you  really can’t do without a CCTV system - particularly if your insurance provider suggests it too.  And many businesses are now using call recording technologyfor help monitoring telephone calls. 

 Big brother is not just watching you – he’s eavesdropping too,