The Surveillance Society
When it comes to catching the bad guys, a
surveillance camera is a police officer’s best
friend. There is little a criminal can say in
his defense when the crime he is accused
of committing has been caught on video.
Once mainly seen in banks and government
buildings, video surveillance systems have
become standard equipment even for the
smallest convenience stores.
Even when criminals are not actually caught
on video, just the presence of video cameras
can make a location safer. In the hope of
deterring criminals, some people post signs
saying “Video Surveillance Is in Operation”
even where no video cameras exist. This
deterrence is probably one of the main
reasons that Britons accept such a high level
of video surveillance. Although the British
public seems to approve of their use, the
actual effectiveness of the cameras is far from
clear. Studies by Norris and McC-ahill show
that video surveillance had “a sustained and
dramatic reductive effect in some areas” but “a
negligible impact in others.” Now, the British
government is moving ahead to the next
step in its surveillance program: an ambitious
vehicle surveillance system designed to deter
known criminals from making use of the
countrv’s roads.
Surveillance Success
Fighting crime hasn’t been the only success
for video surveillance. One autumn day in
Brittany, France, 18-year-old Iean-Francois
LeRoy was swimming in a 25—meter public
swimming pool. He wasipracticing holding
his breath for long periods of time when he
suddenly lost consciousness. The human
lifeguards watching the pool didn’t realize
what was happening as LeRoy sank slowly and
quietly to the bottom of the pool. Without
help, it would have taken him as little as four
minutes to die.
Although no human lifeguard saw LeRoy
drowning, 12 large machine eyes deep under
the water were watching the whole incident,
relaying the images to a central computer.
Iust nine months earlier, a modern electronic
surveillance system called Poseidon had been
installed. Poseidon covers a pool’s entire
swimming area, and is able to tell when
swimmers are not moving the way they are
supposed to. When the computer detects a
problem, it instantly activates an alarm to alert
lifeguards and displays the exact location of the
incident on a monitor. lust 16 seconds after
Poseidon noticed LeRoy sinking, the lifeguards
pulled him from the pool and gave him CPR.
He started breathing again, and after one night
in the hospital was released with no permanent
damage. Poseidon had saved his life.
Rights for the Observed
Its usefulness for tackling crimes and saving
lives notwithstanding, many citizens still voice
their concern about public surveillance. “The
cameras are not just coming—they’re here
now,” warns New York civil rights lawyer
Norman Siegel, who is concerned with the
legal boundaries ofsurveillance. “There has