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Doktor Jon's Comments | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Cameras in the Community - Incidents of anti social behaviour (ASB) have reached a point in Peterborough, U.K., where the local Victim Support group have decided to launch a CCTV camera loan scheme. Supported by a local company, Cross Keys Homes, the cameras will be made available for a month at a time, to individual households previously the subject of ASB. - source Peterborough Today - 24th July 2006 - DJ Comments Doktor Jon comments - Local Authorities are always keen to spend vast sums of ratepayers (and taxpayers) money, on grandiose CCTV schemes which often have a questionable benefit. At the other end of the scale, imaginative low cost schemes such as this, can make a genuine positive impact on low level crime, which seriously affects the quality of life for local residents.
Evidence ... what evidence? - Following an unprovoked attack on a 17 year old girl crossing a pedestrian footbridge, in Cambridge, England, questions are being asked about the provision of CCTV in this most public of public places. According to a press report, the bridge has CCTV cameras located at each end, but not on the bridge itself. So what of the recordings of the attacker as he entered and left the scene; well according to a spokesperson for the local County Council, the recordings are only retained for 48 hours, and as the attack took place early on a Friday morning ..... - source Cambridge Evening News - 19th July 2006 Doktor Jon comments - Cambridgeshire County Council go to all the cost of installing CCTV for the protection of those accessing the Carter pedestrian and cycle bridge, but they couldn't even be bothered to ensure that any recordings were retained for an appropriate period, as required under the Data Protection Act. Whilst a specific period of recording retention is not defined in law, for a high risk location such as this, video recordings should ideally be retained for around twenty eight days, or at an absolute minimum, fourteen days. These days, forgetting to change a video tape is no longer a valid excuse. If a person becomes a victim of crime in a public place, it's not unreasonable for them to question why the agency which has a duty of care towards them, should not be held accountable for fundamental failings in basic security procedures; anything less simply demonstrates a criminal lack of responsibility.
Problems in the Forest - A report produced by New Forest District Council (UK), has highlighted the fact that the 39 CCTV cameras scattered throughout three major towns, has failed to produce any significant reduction in crime. The £ 1.2 million surveillance network was assessed over a twelve month period, and in that time, crimes actually increased in two of the locations - source This is Wiltshire - 21st June 2006 Doktor Jon comments - Time and again, reports are being published which highlight the ineffectiveness of CCTV at tackling crime. And yet with each publication, one inescapable fact is hardly if ever mentioned. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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