Is Cctv Surveillance Helping to Reduce Crime or Is It Affecting the People’s Privacy in Public Spaces? Essay Example
Topic: Is CCTV surveillance helping to reduce crime or is it affecting the people’s privacy in public spaces?
SURVEILLANCE: A CURSE TO PRIVACY
What does privacy means? “Privacy can be defined as ‘that area of a man’s life which, in any given circumstances, a reasonable man with an understanding of the legitimate needs of the community would think it wrong to invade” (Aquilina, 2010). For example, when people walk on street or play in parks, shop in a public market place, study or talk on phone in public library, they want it to be free in doing all this. However, if the people find them being monitored on CCTV cameras, they feel it uncomfortable to stay in that environment anymore. On one hand, the government is taking advantage of this new technology called the Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) to prevent crime, alerting of police at an early stage to stop dangerous situations escalating, telling the people that they are being observed, etc. On the other hand, it is affecting the people’s privacy by keeping a watch on them & monitoring their activities. In this paper I ’am going to argue on how government is taking undue advantage of CCTV surveillance by keeping a watch on people’s activity rather than using it more towards reducing the crime rate of the country. Firstly, CCTV surveillance systems usually consist of cameras with monitors and video recorders. The cameras may be fixed or they may literally have a roaming eye. It was said that CCTV surveillances was one of the best inventions that were developed to help the world to reduce the crime rate but, “A report released by NARCO (National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders) states that CCTVs result in a 5% reduction in crime whereas better street lighting results in a 20% reduction in crime. The effect that CCTVs appears to have on crime usually ranges anywhere from nil to between 3% and 6%” (Greenhalgh, 2003). By this statement the CCTV systems have clearly claimed that they
SURVEILLANCE: A CURSE TO PRIVACY
What does privacy means? “Privacy can be defined as ‘that area of a man’s life which, in any given circumstances, a reasonable man with an understanding of the legitimate needs of the community would think it wrong to invade” (Aquilina, 2010). For example, when people walk on street or play in parks, shop in a public market place, study or talk on phone in public library, they want it to be free in doing all this. However, if the people find them being monitored on CCTV cameras, they feel it uncomfortable to stay in that environment anymore. On one hand, the government is taking advantage of this new technology called the Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) to prevent crime, alerting of police at an early stage to stop dangerous situations escalating, telling the people that they are being observed, etc. On the other hand, it is affecting the people’s privacy by keeping a watch on them & monitoring their activities. In this paper I ’am going to argue on how government is taking undue advantage of CCTV surveillance by keeping a watch on people’s activity rather than using it more towards reducing the crime rate of the country. Firstly, CCTV surveillance systems usually consist of cameras with monitors and video recorders. The cameras may be fixed or they may literally have a roaming eye. It was said that CCTV surveillances was one of the best inventions that were developed to help the world to reduce the crime rate but, “A report released by NARCO (National Association for the Care and Resettlement of Offenders) states that CCTVs result in a 5% reduction in crime whereas better street lighting results in a 20% reduction in crime. The effect that CCTVs appears to have on crime usually ranges anywhere from nil to between 3% and 6%” (Greenhalgh, 2003). By this statement the CCTV systems have clearly claimed that they