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CCTV does not give us the full picture I'd like to argue against the automatic assumption, it seems, of the people quoted in your report that CCTV is the answer to their security ('CCTV camera relief for tenants', February 10). While CCTV footage may be extremely helpful in securing an arrest, it is doubtful that their use contributes to long-term reduction in crime or neuroses about crime. While tape recording may come as a godsend for the victim, the risk of crime does not just drop as more cameras go up. When I recently witnessed a rare case of police brutality, it was not reliance upon CCTV that compelled myself and three other bystanders to intervene on behalf of the handcuffed. Yet nowadays many walk on by with a disproportionate sense of fear to help a stranger. Or a false sense of security about the chances of a foolproof recording coming to light. In fact, Britain's cameras have quadrupled in the last three years alone, making us the most-watched nation in the world. Londoners can expect to get captured on film up to 300 times a day. And do we recognise our neighbours? No, a proper analysis of CCTV blight must take into account not just their impact on privacy but their contribution to diminished kinship. I believe it is tragic that CCTV reliance does little to combat, itself reinforces, one of the chief causes of crime: anonymity. I call this Crimewatch UK CCTV syndrome. Shahrar
Ali |
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