Photo Credit: Aftermath News

The City of Vancouver, The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and the provincial government have chosen to begin installing video surveillance cameras in preparation for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic games, with no guarantees that they will be dismantled or removed after the games’ completion. The VPD and pro-surveillance advocates use a continual comparative to London and the city’s use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) to prevent crime, and the success the program has delivered. The BC Civil Liberties Association has a contrary viewpoint, concerned about the intrusion on privacy the program facilitates in comparison with the real benefits in solving and addressing crime. I think it is time to take a moment to look at some “British facts” regarding CCTV cameras.

London’s 2008 metropolitan police internal report obtained through a Freedom of Information request by the Liberal-Democrats notes that Great Britain has over 4 million CCTV cameras country-wide, both publicly and privately operated. There are over 1 million such cameras in London alone, 10,524 of which are funded by taxpayers, making London the most “watched” city in the world. Yet their crime solution rate is currently no better than Vancouver’s. The average person in London can expect to be observed on CCTV camera over 300 times in an average day. With only 1% of the worlds population, Great Britain has 20% of the worlds CCTV cameras in operation and the 2008 report from the metropolitan police admits that only one crime per year is solved for every 1,000 CCTV cameras installed in the UK.

Dee Doocey, the Liberal-Democrats’ policing spokeswoman, said to the London times: “These figures suggest there is no link between a high number of CCTV cameras and a better crime clear-up rate. We have estimated that CCTV cameras have cost the taxpayer in the London region some £200 million city-wide in the last 10 years but it’s not entirely clear if some of that money would not have been better spent on police officers.”

A close look at the police figures show the following:

A comparison of the number of cameras in each London borough with the proportion of crimes solved there found that police are no more likely to catch offenders in areas with hundreds of cameras compared to those with hardly any. In fact, four out of five of the boroughs with the most cameras have a record of solving crime that is below average. The figures appear to confirm earlier studies, which have thrown doubt on the effectiveness of CCTV cameras. A report by the criminal justice charity “Nacro” of London concluded that the money spent on cameras would be better used on street lighting, which has been shown to cut crime by up to 20 per cent. The British government has spent over a billion Canadian dollars to date on CCTV installation, monitoring and upkeep.

Lets look at what the politicians in London say:

David Davis, an MP and former Shadow secretary, says: “It should provoke a long and overdue rethink on how the crime prevention budget is being spent. CCTV leads to massive expenditures and minimum effectiveness. It creates a huge intrusion on peoples privacy yet provides little or no improvement in security.”

John Bromley-Davenport, a criminal QC in Manchester, says in a statement to the BBC: “Cameras can, occasionally, provide evidence, although the quality of film is frequently so poor as to be worthless. Cameras do nothing to deter criminals; the large number of crimes, committed in the full view of cameras, provide eloquent testimony to that.”

One UK Home Office official, in rebutting the criticism to the BBC, actually said CCTV cameras are useful because they, “help communities ‘feel’ safer.”

There is currently a UK government review going on to try and find out exactly how many CCTV cameras that have been installed in the UK actually work to provide usable pictures for the police.

Perhaps to the British Columbia government and VPD, the solution then is to increase “the perception of safety” instead of actually doing something to address the real underlying issues of crime. Installed cameras may not be effective crime fighters as proven across party lines in London, but then again, it is well demonstrated by actions here that it is all too often perception, and perception only, that is the lodestone of public servants. Some citizens no doubt will feel secure knowing the cameras are installed, however misguided that is proven to be. The very citizens whom advocate surveillance should remember that the descent down the slippery slope of Orwellian observed society will not be abated once this concept is embraced, even through inaction. The future of Canadians will hold no line of personal freedom nor will any right to privacy be safe or guaranteed. The proposed action of government monitoring cameras and the intrusion they represent to the population speak directly against our Charter of Rights, its founding principles and the future freedoms of our children.

The facts proven in London and finally recognized by the metropolitan police in their own report are overwhelmingly clear: you cannot solve crime by using and installing cameras. It’s effectiveness is a myth, an Ingus fatus. To solve crime you must address the social fabric that initiates crime. Poverty, extreme and escalating costs of living, illegal drugs, illegal prostitution, unemployment, poorly executed welfare programs and misplaced spending priorities of government are just some of the real underlying problems we face. Sticking a few cameras up to spy on Canadians will do nothing to solve them.

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Tags: 2010 vancouver winter olympics, cctv, surveillance cameras

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 15th, 2009 at 7:32 pm and is filed under Olympics, Provincial Government. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.