 
Jury Still Out On CCTV By Frank Fourchalk
Lets not be too quick to spend money on CCTV systems in Surrey. I think more time has been spent mulling over privacy issues than investigating the real issue, "Are they Effective?" I have to admit, piggy backing Great Britain's crime prevention initiatives are not always the answer.
I don't mind copycatting success stories as long as they have a proven track record. But has CCTV made a substantial difference in the UK? Not according to Detective Chief Inspector Mike Neville, head of Scotland Yard's Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido).
Neville said cameras do not act as a deterrent. He stated that only 3 per cent of London's street robberies had been solved using CCTV images after spending billions of dollars. He referred to the expensive exercise as an utter fiasco at the Security Document World Conference held in London, England on April, 2008.
So why aren't we learning from Britain's mistakes? The B.C. Government is spending 1 million dollars to examine increased use of CCTV cameras in Surrey, Vancouver and Kelowna. Keep in mind this money is not being used to purchase cameras. It is being spent on a pilot project to examine and test the use of videocams in the three cities. What for? Wouldn't this money be better spent reinforcing our police departments with more officers for our streets?
We seem to be creating more jobs in "Analyzing" than in "Crime Prevention". Enough studies and analyzing! Its time to fight crime with solid resources' and stiffer laws. Spending more money on police officers and less on closed circuit televisions would give us a far greater crime fighting advantage.
And when are the bureaucrats going to realize closed circuit television cameras generally don't protect the public from harms way? They are usually used as a reference "after the fact'.
Attorney General Wally Oppall claims this type of surveillance will combat crime. I got news for Wally Oppall.... it will just push the crime element to another area? Until these criminals are taken off the street permanently, it won't make a bit of difference.
B.C. Solicitor General John van Dongen says, "Technologies such as the CCTV can greatly assist police and the prosecution in bringing offenders to justice". They may, but then what? Backwards crime reduction strategies don't cut it.
I think the Solicitor General and Attorney General need to work harder at finding ways to keep criminals behind bars before spending a million dollars on CCTV pilots. I hope Diane Watts strategies aren't as backward as Vancouver's Mayor Sam Sullivan's. Sullivan showed his security inexperience by saying cameras will only be placed in neighborhoods that want them.
What's the point of spending a million dollars on test projects if the city can't put cameras where they're needed? B.C. government officials need to do more homework before making million dollar decisions that leave taxpayers with nothing more than "White Elephants".
Upload date:
March 31, 2009 8:49 AM
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