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CCTV and The London Bombings - One Year On ...
The events of Thursday July the 7th 2005, will long be remembered by anyone who was living or working in London on that fateful day. Now twelve months on, we look back on the attacks that ripped through the fabric of our multicultural society, and changed forever our perception of what being a British citizen could actually mean. Many words have been written about the events surrounding the outrage, where in a matter of minutes, three underground trains and a double decker bus were decimated by explosions, perpetrated by a new and previously discounted breed of home grown terrorist. A fortnight passed and another series of failed attacks, followed less than 24 hours later by the tragic shooting of an innocent visitor to our shores, Brazilian Jean Charles de Menezes, created shock waves around the world the effects of which are still being felt to this day. And yet the singular most important source of evidence which has rarely been commented on, is the stream of CCTV images that were recovered by the Police. Reports suggest that over 6000 hours of recordings have so far been reviewed, and as the investigations are ongoing, no doubt more are still awaiting scientific analysis. Many foreign governments have sought to learn lessons from our dreadful experience, and for any avid media watchers, the inescapable fact is that there is an urgency amongst many to take all necessary steps to improve security, including the widescale and enthusiastic adoption of Public Space Closed Circuit Television, throughout their cities and towns. But what of the U.K., undisputed capital of the CCTV world where some academics estimate that perhaps 4.25 million cameras are currently in use, and you can hardly move 100 metres down the road without being captured on video more often than Madonna. Well in the last twelve months, despite the UK government pledging increased funding and resources for our over stretched security services, there has not been a penny of specific investment in the capitols CCTV infrastructure, save for a few hundred more cameras being installed for the Mayor of London's proposed extension, to the now widely discredited traffic Congestion Charge scheme. What about that urgent advice and recommendations to assist the nations CCTV operators, in developing and maintaining efficient "State of the Art" surveillance systems; well no that hasn't happened either. Over the previous week, Doktor Jon has been researching every U.K. central and local government, Police, and business website he could find, to see what vital information has been made available on the subject of CCTV's role, as a key component in effective 'Homeland Security'. The sum total of that fruitless exercise, was as it happened located much closer to home (here). In the weeks and months after the attacks, serious discrepencies emerged regarding the lack of acceptable video recordings surrounding the events, and to this day no conclusion has been publicly discussed or reached. That said, the practical integrity and technical quality of many CCTV systems currently in use, are wilfully incapable of providing even a basic Forensic Surveillance capability, and on the face of it, nothing appears to have been done to redress this situation. In the recently published House of Commons Intelligence and Security Committee Report into the attacks, an earlier JTAC report (May 2005) on the terrorist threat to UK rail and underground networks (which was issued to the transport sector) summarised the threat as "Rail and underground networks have been attractive targets to terrorists world-wide; ... attacks on UK rail networks feature highly in terrorists’ menu of options; but [there is] no suggestion of a current tangible threat to UK rail or underground". Knowing now what we do, and with the expert CCTV knowledge that has been available for perhaps the last twenty years, is there not a strong enough case for the government to at least do something to inspire confidence that the nations CCTV operators, could if need be actually improve the effectiveness of their systems, to produce useful Evidential Quality Recordings at times of greatest need? At a time when our thoughts are with the victims and their families, we can perhaps be excused for questioning why there isn't more genuine consideration, for taking all necessary steps towards preventing the unthinkable. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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