Big Brother is watching you...

CCTV cameras

Can be found in...

Trains

Train stations

Buses

Bus stations

Shopping Centres

Street corners

Shops

Gymnasiums

On the Beach

Hospitals

Parklands

Hotels

Restaurants

Fast food joints

Theatres

Public grounds

Places of heritage

Museums

On the roads

Petrol stations

And many many more.

Big Brother is everywhere. At any one point of the day or night someone, somewhere is watching you. The average amount a person in Great Britain is spied upon is around 300 times in one day which quite frankly is bloody ludicrous! We are told that it is for our safety and protection and that the Closed Circuit Television Camera (CCTV) should be technically referred to as a safety camera.

I’m a well-travelled individual. I’ve driven across several of the earth’s continents with more still to go and yet I don’t think I’ve ever come across as many cameras per square mile in other countries as those compared to ones in the British Isles. Back in the late eighties / early nineties you had a splattering of cameras here and there mainly used to deter thefts in large shopping centres or maybe as an extra pair of eyes down a dark alley but since 911 and the “War on Turr” the volume of cameras put in place under the instruction of Herr Paranoid Blair, has rocketed skywards.

Now don’t get me wrong, they do have a very useful purpose, especially when it comes to being used as evidence in a court of law thus proving beyond all reasonable doubt that Colonel Mustard did strike Miss Scarlet in the Drawing room with the lead pipe.  I can also remembering watching once a Cops on camera style program where a CCTV controller once helped prevent a woman from being mugged down a dark lane after seeing a suspicious male lurking around in the bushes. The controller radioed the police who successfully managed to intercept the man and prevent something that could have been much worse.

However, despite the above statements I’m still not convinced that this warrants the sheer volume of camera’s around us. According to the extremely unscientific research method of using Google to do a very quick research, the cost of purchasing a single CCTV camera and installing it in one house is around £280.

For larger establishments such as a company installation or city council and you are running into most probably tens of thousands to do the supply and install alone. Then you have the maintenance, operation and running costs of your guy sitting for eight hours a day in a room with no windows looking at a whole series of television screens using a two way radio. Hardly the best way to keep up with government targets for us all to keep fit! According to the Salisbury Journal newspaper, the running costs alone for the Wiltshire based city as of November 2011 were approximately £400,000!!!

Now compare this cost to that of adding an extra bobby on the beat which according to http://www.police-information.co.uk/policepay.htm   is just £23,259 and the figures speak for themselves. By using fewer cameras and more humans you are not only serving the streets of Britain but are building bridges in the community, show a visible presence to deter crime and create more jobs which in turn will help the economy, taxation back to the Government and increase the general overall feel good factor amongst its citizens. For the same £400,000 running costs, Salisbury could have an extra 17 members of the police force out and about on the streets.

Now of course this is all pie in the sky figures and has no real weighted scientific and mathematical proof behind them. I just spent ten minutes on Google and found what was scratching the surface. But even by doing this I still believe that a Policeman on the ground, interacting with the people has got to be way better than a guy in a closed room. The 21^st century spy camera – sorry safety camera now even come equipped with speakers so that the controller sitting behind his desk can berate you when you drop some litter. I don’t agree with people leaving a mess but I far less agree with Big brother watching your every single move. If we are meant to be free citizens, then why does it feel as though you are being watched like a hawk?

Wingwalker.