CCTVs Don't Work in the UK

ShakaUVM writes "People who give up a little bit of liberty for a little bit of security deserve neither, the saying goes. But what happens when people give up so much liberty their entire country resembles an Orweillean dystopia — but the pervasive monitoring doesn't help to solve any crimes? That's what is happening in the United Kingdom today. While the Guardian tries to put a good spin on the entire fiasco, the fact remains that CCTVs only help with 3% of all street robberies, the very crimes they were supposed to be best at protecting. Should England finally move to eliminate its troubling state surveillance program?"

At the risk of being arrested...

[davidwr]

Should England finally move to eliminate its troubling state surveillance program?"

At the risk of being arrested for treason, I say "yes, they should."

Another obvious Answer?

[neokushan]

Obviously if the CCTV cameras we have today only help prevent 3% of crimes, then we need about 33x more cameras!
All hail our great overseers!

Re:I think...

[Mordok-DestroyerOfWo]

I completely agree. If Matt Damon can outmaneuver them how difficult can it be?

I have no problem with CCTVs

[Toreo asesino]

In fact, the thought that they could help if I were to be in a tight-spot is actually reassuring. People think twice about doing stupid things if they know there's an eye in the sky watching them.

I have however had one objection; I caught one blatantly checking me and one ex-girlfriend "making out" (let's say) in a park once. The dirty bastard on the end even nodded the camera at me in recognition I'd caught him watching it all.

Why just England?

[Reality Master 201]

Are the cameras in Scotland, Wales, or the other parts of the United Kingdom any better at helping to solve street crime?

Think of the birdies

[HikingStick]

You could gut the cameras and leave the housings in place. Remove the lens glass and viola!--you have nice little bird houses everywhere in the city. Someone get the environmental lobby on this angle, stat!

England needs to keep using CCTV, here's why . . .

[mmell]

Okay, so the CC monitoring hasn't slashed violent/street crime, and it hasn't been a panacea for law enforcement/prosecution of crimes - but it has provided tons (tonnes?) of footage for "Wildest Police Video XXIV" and "FHV" . . .

Re:At the risk of being arrested...

[xerxesVII]

You know, I kind of admire your grit. Not only are you admitting to watching that movie, but you're actually trying (I assume with a straight face) to act like there was some relevance to it outside of watching a movie about boobs.

Re:At the risk of being arrested...

[Anonymous Coward]

No, they shouldn't. Can you imagine how severely it would cripple Torchwood if they couldn't hack into the cameras and track aliens and other critters with that system?

Re:At the risk of being arrested...

[Digi-John]

If we stick everyone in big life-support tanks and simply make them live in a computer simulation of the real world, with proper programming safeguards against anyone dying in the simulation, we can protect EVERYONE!
These 'safeguards' against simulated death could be modeled after Secret Service agents...


Sometimes I've just gotta go with it and reference something many geeks would rather not admit they ever liked :)

old ladies

[Anonymous Coward]

I'd like to see those cameras made available to the public to scrutinize at their leisure. They would be effective if they were.

Yes, what we need is control centres open to all pensioners. This has several great benefits:

1. we get an army of CCTV operators more than willing to ensure that any misdemeanour does not go unnoticed.
2. we keep the OAPs off the streets, and put them in a safe, warm environment
3. the investment in CCTVs pays off as every camera gets a dedicated viewer.
4. respect for pensioners increases as every young buck would know that to insult an OAP would have them on the lookout for him.

Obviously this would be good for society and keep the pensioners happy as they love nothing better than sitting around watching what's going on.

Re:old ladies of the night

[Mix+Master+Nixon]

You'd think easy access to drugs and prostitutes would be a selling point.