UK: Smile For The Cameras

[jinyo]

England loves its security cameras. They have these cameras everywhere! It makes me wonder whether they really deter crime. Shortly after I arrived in London, a guy was mugged right near my building. The cameras didn't seem to prevent that from happening

Comments

[bobbarker]

Cameras are just like another piece of information. It depends on how it is used and collated if it is to mean anything. Often times it is lost in a sea of other information. They really don't capture much detail and even then, how do you know conclusively who you are looking at?

Speaking as someone who has installed a bunch of them in my time, many of them can and are dummy cameras, not hooked to anything. As long as someone thinks it is an active camera, that is enough for some owners.

[jinyo]

The visibility of cameras and the signs posted are obviously intended to have a deterrent effect, on top of the technical functions of the cameras. One natural question is, are they actually having that effect?

One of the main points of taking notice of the ubiquity of cameras in London is to realize the degree to which we lack control of our own images. I was doing this for a Media Law class, part of which was devoted to one's right of privacy, as well as one's right to control the use of one's image, and one's right not to be depicted in a way one doesn't wish to be depicted.

From a cultural standpoint, it is also interesting how much more common the use of these cameras is in London than here in the US.

[bobbarker]

We Americans like our privacy and even scorn presumed security over losing that privacy. I don't think they are effective at all. Most people don't seem to care about them. Are there any before and after statistics that pull out the other changes that might have occured to influence them?

[a_lonewolf]

I wonder if the information caught by the cameras is used more for punitive purposes (in court after a crime has been committed) than anything else. I can't imagine it deters very much crime.

[scrawnysquall]

Big brother x.x

[jinyo]

srsly!

[singingraisin]

I don't have a strong opinion one way or another. But I am curious about the actual effectiveness in terms of preventing, reporting, or investigating crimes. I can't imagine that every one of those cameras has someone watching over them constantly or that they save their footage for any considerable period of time or that they're particularly high-quality images, which leads me to suspect they're largely there for show. But a BBC article I found suggests crime rates have fallen over the last few years, so maybe they're working?

[jinyo]

Yeah, but crime statistics are influenced by so many things, including law enforcement budget, the economy in general, the weather, and even how the local football club is playing. So it's hard to know how much the cameras are helping, without doing very specific research.

[aimeekitty]

I get the feeling that those cameras have feelings. they are definitely animate objects

[jinyo]

Creepy voyeurs!

[jinyo]

I never really noticed until I was told to pay attention!