From Georgetown University's The Hoya:
Closed-circuit TV surveillance cameras have been in widespread operation in the United Kingdom for a little over a decade. A 2002 estimate in an UrbanEye study coordinated by the Technical University of Berlin estimated the total number of these CCTV cameras in Britain to be over 4 million. American law enforcement should study the British use of cameras and create plans for implementing them in the United States.
Seven such cameras recently installed in the Middlesbrough, England town center don't just to watch but have also been equipped with loudspeakers so operators can talk to offenders. These cameras will be even more effective at fighting crime than ones without speakers, but the additional feature prompts concerns about “Big Brother” style policing. These concerns, however, avoid the central issue: Cameras help fight crime in two distinct ways that greatly improve everyone’s quality of life.
Read the whole thing.
Recent Comments