Gonzalez

Valentina Gonzalez WRD 104 Professor Schneider 21 January 2013 Camera Surveillance of the Public Now and in the Near Future Summaries

One Sentence Summary

In a chapter of Christopher Slobogins Privacy at Risk, he declares that closed-circuit televisions, CCTVs, can only decrease and prevent crimes when the most refined cameras are located in the right spot and are monitored by skilled operatives; otherwise, according to his analysis of multiple studies, CCTVs are not cost effective.

Paragraph Summary In Christopher Slobogins chapter, Camera Surveillance of the Public Now and in the Near Future, he claims that after September 11, closed-circuit televisions, CCTVs, became hugely popular and were apparent in major cities as well as in small towns. Slobogin stresses that CCTVs gained popularity for two reasons that included increased public safety and presumably, convenience in terms of efficiency and cost. However, Slobogin claims that in cases that CCTVs have helped decrease crime rates, other factors might have affected the outcome. Although Slobogin acknowledges the fact that CCTVs assisted in finding those who were responsible for the London bombing in July 2005, he still questions whether, overall, they are cost effective. He inquiries whether the costs of the CCTVs are correlated with the increase of arrests or the reduction in crimes. Slobogin concludes that in order for CCTVs to be effective, certain measures have to be taken.

Gonzalez One Page Summary According to a chapter in Christopher Slobogins Privacy at Risk, the use of CCTVs became more common in major cities and small towns after the tragedy of September 11 (82).

For example, Slobogin recognizes that cities bolstered by tens of millions of federal dollars, are not so hesitant about using their cameras (82). For this reason, it is no surprise that CCTVs have led to such enhancements that they are now able to distinguish people that have outstanding criminal records using facial recognition systems (84). However, this does not impress Slobogin, instead he argues that CCTVs have made more of a negative than positive impact in society. Slobogin points out that cameras hypothetically have three uses which include helping prevent or solve crime, identifying criminals and daunting crime (85-86). Nonetheless, in Glasgow, CCTVS have had the opposite affect as citizens claimed feeling less safe because of the overwhelming use of cameras that insinuated crime and danger (85). Also, CCTVs have proven to be ineffective because generally, crime only decreased by four percent and in Sydney one arrest was made within more than one hundred days (85). Furthermore, Slobogin suggests that the crime lessening was due to other factors, such as more police officers on duty or the fact that criminals can simply relocate (87). Furthermore, in the United States, five cities ceased the use of CCTVs because they were not cost effective (85). Slobogin proposes that CCTVs are not cost effective because cameras and videotapes can easily be destroyed, recordings can be of poor quality, and images caught on tape are always subject to interpretation (86). Also, Slobogin proposes that criminals might not care about surveillance cameras being present (87). All in all, Slobogin makes the larger claim that cameras will only be successful when refined cameras are used, when they are placed in the right spot and when they are monitored by skilled operatives.

Gonzalez Valentina: Good work on these drafts. Youve done a lot very well, but youve got find a way to integrate the privacy issue, since its so important in the reading.