1. Amy Moss
CCTV Research & Planning
CCTV stands for ‘Closed Circuit Television’, the use of CCTV consists mainly of video cameras set
up to transmit a signal to a set of monitors. There are many types of CCTV cameras as they all serve
different functions:
This is known as an ‘Eye in the Sky’ CCTV camera, its main usage is in
airports and car parks. The cameras are placed at the top of a high steel
pole to get a bird’s eye view of its surroundings; this type of camera can
prevent car theft and muggings. Unfortunately due to how high it is, it
can often prevent the camera from seeing the perpetrators face, unless
they look directly at it.
Although this type of CCTV can be ineffective, it has proven that when
a security camera of this kind is placed in a car park it has resulted in a
51% decrease of crime.
The shape of this camera at
the top of the high steel
pole is a dome, these can
be found around shopping
centres, street corners,
buses and shops (often in the ceiling). The use of a
‘Dome’ CCTV camera is to get a full shot of the room
or space it is present in, which can often lead to the
prevention of crime, as when these were found or
present on public transportation, crime saw a decrease of
23%.
Often distributed around construction sites are regular
surveillance cameras, these are used by businesses to track they’re workers and in most cases to look
out for thieves stealing material. They are normally clumped together in what surveillance companies
refer to as ‘nests’, when they consist of more than 2 cameras together. This allows the monitor to get
the view from different angles.
Many people have taken into incorporating CCTV into their homes by setting up their own CCTV
cameras at the front of their home. This pack will normally consist of a 4 little cameras and a
monitoring system that allows you to connect to most televisions and computers to record your
footage. However these packages are not cheap and often tally up to £687 due to their efficiency.
2. Amy Moss
Although many people like the idea of protecting their home, others see
it as an invasion of privacy, stating that CCTV displaces crime rather
than reducing it, and it’s often snubbed as ‘Big Brother Surveillance’.
As if an invasion of privacy isn’t a good enough counter argument,
CCTV operators took a big hit in 2007 when ‘Watchdog: Camera
Watch’ claimed that the majority of CCTV cameras in the UK are
operated illegally or are in breach of privacy guidelines.
Furthermore, this illegal use of CCTV can be committed through a
system called IP which stands for ‘Internet Protocol’ which allows
members of the public to view many CCTV cameras through an internet
connection available through a tablet, computer or a 3G phone. This is
often used in the case of criminals where CCTV cameras
have been installed next to ATM machines where the pins of
many members of the public have been noted and used. This
happened in Canterbury when a man was withdrawing
money whilst being watched by an overhead security camera,
later that day he was pickpocketed and a sufficient amount of
money was withdrawn from his account, after the people
operating the security camera were random members of the
public viewing it from a 3G connection.
Nevertheless, not all security cameras are used improperly;
the vast majority of cameras are regulated by legitimate
companies and have been used in desperate cases. For
example, the kidnapping of James Bulger in 1992 was a great
breakthrough for CCTV cameras and proved that being
watched isn’t always a bad thing. The two boys who were
caught on camera leading
James Bulger away had their freedom snatched away from them
when their faces were caught on CCTV used in the shopping centre.
Positive views of CCTV cameras have argued that the cameras are
not intruding people’s privacy as they are not watching private, but
public space where an individual’s right to privacy can reasonably be
weighed against the intended benefits of society. However, the counter
argument towards this is that if we are trying to benefit society then
why are there no security cameras in private areas and only public
where not many crimes are committed. For example, in such places as
alleys, tube stations, darkly lit streets where crimes are likelier to happen rather than on a busy high
street.
These are not the only places in which CCTV cameras are used, there are other uses for them in day to
day life:
• Traffic monitoring
3. Amy Moss
• Transport Safety
• Control of Retail; selection of goods, moving goods, scanning goods and control in
the kitchens of fast food restaurants
There have been many opposing parties towards CCTV such as the ‘NO CCTV – campaigning
against camera surveillance in the UK and beyond’ group of people who fight to protect privacy.
The
anti-cctv campaigns run through Aylesbury, Birmingham, Northern Ireland, Oxford, Royston, Bristol
and Nottingham and they are fighting to prove that CCTV is a threat to privacy and base their
arguments on the issue that the public have been ill informed about CCTV and they are not here to
protect us. Although on many occasions their campaigns have proven effective and have caused a stir
in regards to removing CCTV cameras across the globe, there are not enough people willing to fight
with them for the removal.
Although many people are fighting against CCTV it’s hard to tell whether they are fighting a losing
battle, due to the amount of research that has been discussed earlier I think it would be best to say that
CCTV will be embedded within society for a long time until strong legal action is taken against it.