The video cameras are following you. When you sit on the bus. When you’re hanging out at the shopping center. When you’re checking out the latest stuff at the clothes shop. When you buy a kebab from the van. When you are wandering around the city center, and maybe also when you enter the gym.
Insecurity is an important reason for surveillance being used in more and more places. Most bus drivers and passengers feel more secure if they know that a surveillance camera has been installed in the bus. The person standing alone behind the counter at the petrol station late at night is reassured by the fact that the area is under video surveillance.
Always a positive thing?
Video surveillance can help prevent and solve crimes such as vandalism, violence and theft. But it is important to think carefully
about the consequences before a decision is made to install video surveillance,
whether on the bus, at school or in a pedestrian area. Why is surveillance needed? Does it provide increased security? Can
surveillance have negative consequences? Are there other solutions that provide as much or perhaps even better security?
There are no statistics suggesting that the general crime level decreases as cameras are installed. Instead, the violence changes shape or is displaced to other locations. People that are drunk or high on drugs, or mentally ill people, are not affected by the fact that there are cameras present. This is why there is disagreement over the extent to which video surveillance contributes to a more secure society. It is also difficult to know how we – as humans – are affected by being under surveillance.
Not always reliable
In some instances, video surveillance can result in misunderstandings. In some places, cameras are used to discover unwanted
individuals, who are then requested to leave the premises, even if they haven’t done anything wrong. In order to avoid misunderstandings
or abuse, it is important that those who install such
cameras know how it is supposed to be done, and that the recorded footage is treated in accordance
with applicable laws and regulations. And it is still just as important that you intervene if you see that someone needs help,
even if there are cameras present.
Even if a camera records an event, it can’t prevent things from happening.
