Kirkcaldy against CCTV continues its campaign against the acceptance of public surveillance, and this week, one of the founder members found to his cost the dangers of taking this affront to our liberty too personally.
"Jogging along the High Street, in Kirkcaldy, I noticed the camera following me. I stopped and it stopped. Then I moved on again, and it moved on. I stopped and it stopped, all the time watching me. I was dog-walking for a friend, and went in to collect Rollo. At the top of the stairs, I noticed a flash of a yellow coat. Coming out of the front door, I saw a police van parked immediately in front of the flat's entrance hallway. As is my custom, I started the jog. Having progressed 100 yards up the street, I heard what could only be a Police Transit pull to a stop behind me. I turned around, and seeing that it was clearly me that the officers were interested in went back to speak to them.
Me: "Can I help you?"
Them: "Yes, we have had a complaint of someone breaking into a car matching your description."
Me: "This is because I run the anti-surveillance campaign, isn't it?"
Them: "No, no. Where have you come from?"
Me: "From the High Street. I am doing dog-walking. Look if it happened on the High Street then you will have images of it."
Them: "No, well, it happened just off the High Street. About 15 minutes ago. The youth was wearing a blue top, blue jogging bottoms, with white stripes down the legs."
Me: "Well, since I left my front door, I haven't been out of sight of at least two cameras for that whole time."
Them: "Can I take your name, please?"
[Takes my details.]
The officers did not detain me, or caution me. In fact, they were very pleasant and professional. I can almost guarantee that there will have been no one else down the High Street matching my description, and said as much, and yet the Police rightly let me go on my way. More likely this was just a little warning, a shot across the bows, for taking an interest in their work. There is no other sensible explanation."
As we say to anyone interested in the campaign, this is not an anti-Police campaign. If you have a grudge to bear against the Police then you will need to find alternative channels. We have always said that monies saved by dismantling the CCTV network, should be saved or ploughed back into neighbourhood policing, to put officers out on the streets. We must keep policing interpersonal.
Showing posts with label Kirkcaldy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kirkcaldy. Show all posts
Monday, 18 January 2010
Friday, 30 May 2008
CCTV used for Litter
You will remember that the mobile CCTV unit's visit to the High Street was discussed in our last blog entry. It now transpires that this hugely expensive bit of equipment, with its operators and back-up was actually being used to catch litterers. What a waste! - if you excuse the pun. Yes, litter is a problem. Yes, to knowingly throw litter is an offence. But to spend a fortune like this on such minor crime is the proverbial sledgehammer to crack a monkey nut. And remember, the whole area was already covered by other cameras!
Further to the incident related in the previous entry, my mole informs me that the picture of me being confronted by the mobile CCTV crew is now in general circulation. A whole range of council officials and para-police types have now seen it. Responsible use of public property, if ever I saw it.
Was ever a better illustration needed of CCTV-groupies' complete disregard for personal privacy? Even if I had committed a minor crime, this sort of dissemination would have been completely unjustified.
Have you seen the images? How far have they travelled? Write now to c/o Mr D McHutcheon, 120 Commercial Street, Kirkcaldy, Fife, KY1 2NX.
Once again though, we are not anti-Police. This is about protecting the individual citizen's right to privacy.
Further to the incident related in the previous entry, my mole informs me that the picture of me being confronted by the mobile CCTV crew is now in general circulation. A whole range of council officials and para-police types have now seen it. Responsible use of public property, if ever I saw it.
Was ever a better illustration needed of CCTV-groupies' complete disregard for personal privacy? Even if I had committed a minor crime, this sort of dissemination would have been completely unjustified.
Have you seen the images? How far have they travelled? Write now to c/o Mr D McHutcheon, 120 Commercial Street, Kirkcaldy, Fife, KY1 2NX.
Once again though, we are not anti-Police. This is about protecting the individual citizen's right to privacy.
Saturday, 24 May 2008
Mobile CCTV
On Tuesday, 20th May 2008, a Mobile CCTV unit was parked in the middle of Kirkcaldy High Street. The day was hot, clear and sunny. The street busy with shoppers. The entire area that the mobile CCTV van could cover was already covered by other CCTV cameras.
Either this was a show of force, a thoughtless use of resources, or - as the operator, who bounced out of the van and accosted me for staring at it in an obtrusive manner, said - it is a necessary evil. An evil, indeed.
I was told that if I had a problem with CCTV, I should ring the number on the side of the van, the number of the Fife Community Safety Partnership: 01592-418888. Given that this is - by implication - the number to call for complaints about CCTV, I would encourage anyone with an interest in the area to call this number and register your objection.
Simply remember this: it should be the expectation of every liberal and democratic townsperson that the final say in matters of local policing belongs to democratic institutions. This is not an executive policy matter. It is a matter political in the proper sense of the word.
Either this was a show of force, a thoughtless use of resources, or - as the operator, who bounced out of the van and accosted me for staring at it in an obtrusive manner, said - it is a necessary evil. An evil, indeed.
I was told that if I had a problem with CCTV, I should ring the number on the side of the van, the number of the Fife Community Safety Partnership: 01592-418888. Given that this is - by implication - the number to call for complaints about CCTV, I would encourage anyone with an interest in the area to call this number and register your objection.
Simply remember this: it should be the expectation of every liberal and democratic townsperson that the final say in matters of local policing belongs to democratic institutions. This is not an executive policy matter. It is a matter political in the proper sense of the word.
Opening Remarks
Welcome to the blog!
To object to CCTV in "today's inconnected world" is to hold an unfashionable minority viewpoint. This is the preserve of old-Labour socialists, recalcitrant liberals, hard-nosed Tories, human rights lawyers, privacy activists, data protection campaigners, hoodies, Victor Meldrew types, visitors from overseas or returning ex-pats, conspiracy theorists, gloommongers, hippy visionaries, peaceniks and constitutionalists. This is the awkward squad. But boy what a coalition this awkward squad represents!
Our cause - first and foremost - is a principled one. We value the privacy of the individual citizen and the dignity of our community at large - here, in Kirkcaldy. Without privacy, there can be no dignity. Privacy is a right, while dignity lies at the heart of our humanity.
CCTV is an infringement on your privacy. By this means, the state builds up an unduly detailed picture of our lives. In future, all of your errors, stumbles, bloody noses, bad hair days, confrontations, romantic moments - the private matter of public places - will become the property of the state to be duplicated and disseminated in a manner entirely outwith of your control.
Society functioned for better and worse without CCTV and public surveillance in general for millenia past. Increasingly, we are replacing natural, organic relations, with filtered, atomised, virtual existences. Our neighbourliness - as Fifers never exactly one of our more famed characteristics - will suffer as we substitute spontaneous, interpersonal lives for mediated dependencies controlled by a state bureaucracy whose function is to mechanise and saniticise vital, natural instincts.
Like the right to protest. Like the right to associate with real police officers as they walk the street in their professional capacity of guardians of the law. Like the right not to have CCTV operators learn all manner of details of your proclivities, habits, tastes, waking hours. Like the right not to have you stumble down a manhole or dress tear beamed around the world for popular entertainment.
Your privacy and - therefore - your dignity is at the heart of the matter. This is not a question about crime. Surveys have shown that the impact of CCTV on relevant crime in covered areas is four percent, and that is before the displacement issue is taken into account.
We must have the utmost of respect for the Police. I would love to see the day that the Police are respected - not feared - in Kirkcaldy, in a way that they haven't been since the first few post-war years. To do this they must be seen and known. The money saved by dismantling the CCTV network should be ringfenced for Policing. This is not an anti-Police campaign movement. The Police are at the heart of successful communities.
Fellow langtonians, now is the time to make your voices heard. Ask your elected representatives where they stand on this issue. Make your vote contingent on a respect of civil privacy and human dignity. It is time for CCTV to be banned in all public places in Kirkcaldy.
To object to CCTV in "today's inconnected world" is to hold an unfashionable minority viewpoint. This is the preserve of old-Labour socialists, recalcitrant liberals, hard-nosed Tories, human rights lawyers, privacy activists, data protection campaigners, hoodies, Victor Meldrew types, visitors from overseas or returning ex-pats, conspiracy theorists, gloommongers, hippy visionaries, peaceniks and constitutionalists. This is the awkward squad. But boy what a coalition this awkward squad represents!
Our cause - first and foremost - is a principled one. We value the privacy of the individual citizen and the dignity of our community at large - here, in Kirkcaldy. Without privacy, there can be no dignity. Privacy is a right, while dignity lies at the heart of our humanity.
CCTV is an infringement on your privacy. By this means, the state builds up an unduly detailed picture of our lives. In future, all of your errors, stumbles, bloody noses, bad hair days, confrontations, romantic moments - the private matter of public places - will become the property of the state to be duplicated and disseminated in a manner entirely outwith of your control.
Society functioned for better and worse without CCTV and public surveillance in general for millenia past. Increasingly, we are replacing natural, organic relations, with filtered, atomised, virtual existences. Our neighbourliness - as Fifers never exactly one of our more famed characteristics - will suffer as we substitute spontaneous, interpersonal lives for mediated dependencies controlled by a state bureaucracy whose function is to mechanise and saniticise vital, natural instincts.
Like the right to protest. Like the right to associate with real police officers as they walk the street in their professional capacity of guardians of the law. Like the right not to have CCTV operators learn all manner of details of your proclivities, habits, tastes, waking hours. Like the right not to have you stumble down a manhole or dress tear beamed around the world for popular entertainment.
Your privacy and - therefore - your dignity is at the heart of the matter. This is not a question about crime. Surveys have shown that the impact of CCTV on relevant crime in covered areas is four percent, and that is before the displacement issue is taken into account.
We must have the utmost of respect for the Police. I would love to see the day that the Police are respected - not feared - in Kirkcaldy, in a way that they haven't been since the first few post-war years. To do this they must be seen and known. The money saved by dismantling the CCTV network should be ringfenced for Policing. This is not an anti-Police campaign movement. The Police are at the heart of successful communities.
Fellow langtonians, now is the time to make your voices heard. Ask your elected representatives where they stand on this issue. Make your vote contingent on a respect of civil privacy and human dignity. It is time for CCTV to be banned in all public places in Kirkcaldy.
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