The other day the giant mob of Roadtrippers got on the tube and headed out to East Ham. We hadn’t journeyed all the way out there simply to attempt to navigate the bus system. Our purpose was to attend a scheduled tour at the CCTV (closed circuit television) station for the borough of Newham, the largest in London. Most of us previously had been aware that the average Londoner is caught on camera about 300 times a day, and several Roadtrip students were horrified by the idea. Unsure of what to expect from such a surveillance organization we crept into the building and waited in a boardroom until our tour began.
Two gentlemen, Jason Carey and Larry Burham, led us around to the various rooms. The main control room, of sorts, was filled with television monitors. At little tables a real person would be watching a few screens up close, keeping an eye on more suspicious activity. In particular, they were watching a woman eat fried chicken on a bench. At first this seemed sort of ridiculous, but then it was explained that the woman had hidden a bottle of alcohol in her bag, and while public drinking is acceptable in London, she was in an area known for a lot of alcoholics and crime resulting from such activity.
The rules of CCTV are pretty straightforward. They’re required to have signs alerting the public of the cameras. These signs, however, do not have to be next to the camera, but simply in the area. In fact, while some cameras are pretty obvious, many are the size of pinholes and can be hidden between bricks or inside walls. The cameras are not allowed to film inside private homes and no sound may be recorded. However, one might wonder if these rules are actually enforced, but Burham ensured us that the system is not corrupt. When asked if they ever caught cops misbehaving he explained that they will often be with cops watching a suspicious person and other cops will arrive at the scene. At this point, the cops in the studio will call the others and let them know they are being watched. Does this mean that the cops would normally misbehave? It is unclear, but I imagine it’s possible. However, that doesn’t reflect poorly on CCTV, it only reflects poorly on potentially corrupt cops. The goals of CCTV are to protect the public through the elimination of violence. It apparently has been working.
While it might not seem too scary that there are people watching over us in order to prevent violence, they did admit that the cameras don’t really stop the violence, but instead it only displaces the violence. However, Larry Burham was confident that “[camera surveillance] will spread.” And if that is the case, the violence will no longer have room to displace.
Feelings remain mixed about the camera system in the UK. They’ve been around for 12 years, and it can’t be denied that crime has decreased. While it may be easy to come from the United States and be horrified, we have the same privacy concerns about restricting freedoms in order to protect the people, Maybe we’re caught on camera 300 times a day and we just don’t know it yet.
For a closer look at what it's really like inside, check out this video courtesy of Jeremy Sairsingh. -Andrea Warren
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