N.S. town to install surveillance cameras - Nova Scotia

[dArKeR]

A northern Nova Scotia community has decided to install surveillance cameras on several downtown streets in an attempt to reduce vandalism.

The town council in Antigonish, N.S., voted to approve the cameras at a Monday night meeting, deputy mayor Jack Sullivan told globeandmail.com.

Dianne Roberts, chair of the police and licence committee, said Monday that the move was prompted by recent vandalism.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20031021.wcamer1021/BNStory/National/

[Billy Burnett]

1. I've been to Antigonish. This is unbelievable.

I can't imagine that there's not going to be a big fuss over this. Nova Scotians, generally, don't like their civil liberties infringed upon.

[LibLabUK]

2. Umm

How does installing CCTV in public areas "infringe civil liberties"?

What rights are they infringing upon?

Do you think that shops that have installed CCTV to discourage/catch shoplifters are "infringing civil liberties"?

Aren't the vandals infringing on the rights of the citizens of this town by forcing them to spend tax money to deal with the damage that they cause?

[RoeBear]

3. There is a difference...

...between a private company putting up cameras on their private property and government doing it on public property. OTOH- if it saves just one life, why not?

[Romulus]

4. different view here

In the US, any unwarranted govt survellance "just for the hell of it" is looked down upon as overreaching. People do not want unnamed govt officials watching their every move. It just smacks of something from the PRC or old Soviet Union - "if you've done nothing wrong, what do you have to fear?" Look at the US citizens' criticism of the USA PATRIOT Act's surveillance provisions.

I understand the UK has installed some kind of extensive network of these types of cameras around the country, or maybe just in London. UK'rs have a long history of tolerating paternalistic forms of government that micromanage their lives "for their own good," stretching back to the feudal says, and I suspect having such a governmental surveillance system watching over its citizens is acceptable there as no big deal.

Do you think that shops that have installed CCTV to discourage/catch shoplifters are "infringing civil liberties"?

Those are private property owners excersing control over their property. They could strip search everyone who wants to come into their stores if they want. If you don't want to be searched/recorded, you have the choice of not going into the store.

Aren't the vandals infringing on the rights of the citizens of this town by forcing them to spend tax money to deal with the damage that they cause?

If the "necessary" level of government control over its citizens was based on the ability of that control to minimize costs on the government while maximizing the productivity of its citizens, a government operating under such a pardigm would have all of its citizens cooped up in concentration/work camps, without any sharp instruments around.

[el_gato]

5. fools

I don't want to live in a surveillance society
and anybody who does is a fool.

It's coming anyway thanks to chickenshit assholes who
want the government to have total control of everything.

Bow down before big brother

[Pert_UK]

6. Lot of over-reaction on this thread.......

There's a problem with vandalism and they want to stop it....

What's the difference between them increasing police patrols in the area, and them having a security guy able to watch several different areas via cameras?

The UK has cameras installed in lots of main pedestrian / shopping areas as a deterrant to crime. It also has moveable camera vans that it sends to crime "hotspots" in London, often aimed at preventing theft from tourists.

These cameras have often provided valuable information in the hunt for IRA and other terrorist bombers and serious criminals....

Maybe, just maybe, when somebody comes up with a useable, decent face-recognition system that's hooked up to a central network of all CCTV cameras in the UK, then I'll start getting worried about "Big Brother" watching my every move....in the meantime, I'll just feel safer, thanks. Bear in mind that cellphone records and ATM withdrawals inable you to be tracked almost permanently anyway....

P.