They’re Watching You! October 24, 2007
Posted by JennieB in Corporate Technology, Oxford News.trackback
A new campaign has started in Oxford – not on the gentrification by big name chains – but against a proposal to spend £150,000 on sprinkling CCTV cameras along the short length of the Cowley Road.
Beginning with with the blandishing of the road by businesses such as Costa Coffee and Subway, this clone-town gentrification still hasn’t stopped accusations that Cowley Road is the most dangerous in Oxford. The police want to put eight CCTV cameras along the road in a bid to stop the – mostly drunken – street brawls. The ridiculously named ‘Operation Bratwurst’ currently has officers out in force; the idea is that CCTV would free up police time
In August, residents voted ‘no’ to CCTV as they feared it would ‘push crime into the side streets’. Even the BBC argued back in 2003 that, “CCTV is no answer to street violence“. This is no deterrant to Superintendent Brendan O’Dowda, local Thames Valley Police Area Commander East Oxford MP Andrew Smith, and the University of Oxford Students’ Union who are on a mission to get the cameras installed.
New pressure group, No CCTV on Cowley Road argue that, “Britain is the most spied upon nation in the world, yet we don’t have the lowest crime rate. CCTV simply does not work and it is a waste of money. It goes against Britain’s common law value of ‘innocent until proven guilty’…”. The group also reports that many studies have found CCTV to be ineffective in fighting crime. A recent news article from London’s Evening Standard also questioned the expense versus the effectiveness of CCTV and in a home office report from 2002 it was found that, “…CCTV had no effect on violent crimes (from five studies),” and that it only “…reduces crime to a small degree”.
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What is there to say/comment? That’s the way this particular cookie is crumbling nationwide. Nobody seems to mind (or even notice) much, and the powers that be assure us that “the public” is all in for it! (Like ID cards and grassing on your neighbours…) And when not assuring us that we love it, they’re whipping up a frenzy about crime rates etc. Or ticking the dear public’s tummies with promises of tax cuts and so on. And the public seems to roll over and purr.
Almost feels like the bad old days of Nazi Germany. Everything is ordered and controlled, seen and over-reacted to by the government and rather than helping to curb anti-social and criminal behaviour I believe the extra stresses and lack of freedom and prospects are making things significantly worse. People do not cope with the stress of an overbearing state well and this results in unacceptable behaviour. Perhaps it’s time the government took the mental and emotional state of the nation into account, rather than manipulating it to suit their own agendas.
I played ‘CCTV bingo’ with some mates the other day on a day out in Manchester, we counted 78 CCTV cameras in the 5 block walk from office to train station! Crazy! And so inefficient.
The Thames bus I caught yesturday even had CCTV on the inside and outside of the bus. Ironically, this remote monitoring technology that detaches people from being responsible for the world immediated around us was quiet a talking point amongst the ’strangers’ on the bus.
very interesting, but I don’t agree with you
Idetrorce