Video Surveillance

Video Surveillance

Video surveillance in the United States is becoming widespread. Video cameras are being used in Department stores, convenience stores, store parking lots, and inside banks. The purpose of video cameras are to deter or prevent crime. Are they effective? This issue has sparked a nationwide debate, between the merits of video surveillance and the privacy invasion. The merits of video surveillance, by far, outweigh the issues of privacy invasion.

In the 1970's and 1980's Authorities in Great Britain began installing closed circuit television cameras on streets and in parks, transit stations, stadiums and shopping areas. With more than four million cameras nationwide, the average visitor to London is captured on video 300 times in a single day, according to British sociologist Clive Norris (Shenk).

Most people will say it makes them nervous being watched or stared at while performing an everyday activity. Have you ever bumped your head and immediately after, looked around to see if anybody was watching? I'm sure that has happened to almost everyone. Get used to it. As long as they keep a thief from grabbing a purse, or keep an abductor from taking a child, more and more cameras are going to be installed in public areas. These cameras are helping law enforcement to prevent illegal acts,

The following articles are cases caught by video surveillance, that otherwise would have gone unnoticed . In an article from The Business Week Online by Jane Black, there is a case reporting child abuse caught on tape. Madelyne Gorman Toogood was leaving a Kohl's Department Store. While strapping her four year old child into a car seat, she began to beat this young child, pulling her hair and punching her in the head and face. This was all captured on Kohl's video surveillance of the parking lot. After this tape was handed to authorities in South Bend, Ind, a warrant was issued for her arrest. Ms Toogood faced charges of child battery and a possible three years in jail (Black).

Another case in February of 2004, an eleven year old named Carlie Brucia was murdered in Sarasota after being abducted. The abduction was caught by a security camera at a car was, leading to the arrest of Joseph P. Smith, who was a suspect in the slaying (The Importance of Video Surveillance). In August 2005, at a Tampa car wash, forty four year old Ronald Woodruff Preston, was shot and killed. This shooting was also captured by a security camera, giving police crucial evidence, in finding the shooter (The Importance of Video Surveillance). These are just a few examples of the thousands and thousands of cases caught by public video cameras. If Carlie Brucias abductor hadn't been arrested who knows how many other children could have suffered the same fate.

Video surveillance not only helps in capturing criminals it can also prove someone's innocence. The Pasco-Pinellas State Attorney's Office relied on a restaurant's security tape to rule that Martin Robles acted in self defense when he killed Anthony Makowski during a confrontation. No charges were filed (The Importance of Video Surveillance). There was a news report on television, Thursday, November 10th about an attempted abduction at a Cici's Pizza in Irving. A man was captured on video surveillance picking up an infant out of its carrier, while his mother was at the food bar getting pizza. He then put the child back down and walked out of the restaurant. Although this incident was serious and I'm sure it was a very frightening ordeal for the mother, this man did not break any laws. Without these security cameras, both men would have been arrested and have had a different outcome.

Professor Randall Coyne at the University of Oklahoma said "cockroaches scatter when exposed to the light", meaning that cameras in public places don't prevent crime, they just move it around (Taylor). I believe that if it causes even the slightest inconvenience for a criminal they are still serving a purpose. It's like a thief that is deterred from breaking into a car when he sees that it has a security device locking the steering wheel, or, a thief about to enter a house notices a security sticker on the window and walks away. With more security devices on car steering wheels, and with more security systems installed in homes the less crime there will be. The same goes for security surveillance cameras,