Professor Byrne Lecture: September 23,
2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol2i_Hax0H
Y&feature=related
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CCTV: Closed circuit TV
Street Lighting
Personal Protection devices: guns, tasors,
knives, mace, etc.
Home protection devices: locks,
surveillance,monitoring,private security
Neighborhood protection systems: walled
neighborhoods
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CCTV and street lighting strategies often used
in conjunction
More common in England than US
Evidence of Effectiveness is mixed
Some Evidence of crime reduction for property
crimes such as auto theft
No Evidence of crime reduction for violent
crime
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CCTV and Facial Recognition Software linked
to National ID Data Base
CCTV and Behavior Monitoring Software
tested at John Hopkins University
Future Shock: Beyond Orwell’s 1984 scenario
CCTV and the Public: Allowing the Public to
Monitor CCTV footage and be CRIME
SPOTTERS
In England, there are 4 million cameras, but
only 1000 are being monitored real time
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Imagine the scenario:
lamp post is triggered by technology to spot you walking
strangely
begins recording your conversation, scans your face to
match your details in the national database, X-rays you to
check for weapons
shouts "stand still citizen" and scans your brain to check
whether you intend to commit a crime
sees you're a bit depressed, sections you under mental
health act,
cops pick you up, hand you in to doctors who lock you
up and microchip you.
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The Public can monitor cyberspace and report
illegal activities to the police
Social Network Monitoring to Identify
Underage Drinking, Drug Use, Bullying,
Evidence of physical abuse, sexual solicitation.
The Public can also potentially monitor public
spaces via direct access to CCTV feeds.
Police can offer rewards for the identification of
BOTH cyber and public crimes
http://www.perverted-justice.com/
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Extent of Use: 1 in 2 homes have a gun, but we
don’t have data on the use of other personal
protection devices.
Evidence of Effectiveness is debated
Gun-related injuries from accidents are a
serious problem
Tasers are used both to commit crime and
prevent crime
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Home security systems are more popular in
urban areas.
Last year’s murder in Mount Vernon New
Hampshire involved the targeting of a home in
an isolated, semi-rural area.
Case is very similar to the Zantop Murders of
two Professors at Dartmouth a few years ago.
Judgment Ridge is an excellent book on this
crime
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There are a variety of hard technology
applications being used today.
Private, gated communities are one strategy.
Private Security systems monitored by private
security firms are another strategy.
Evidence of effectiveness?
A Case Study: Witness Intimidation
and the No Snitching Culture
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110 new surveillance cameras & a gunshot
detection system planned for Newark
Sparked by the death of 3 college students in
Summer 07
Plan financed with private money raised by
Newark Community Foundation,
$3.2
million
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In 8 months
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44 cameras in a 7 square mile area
The area represents the location on 80% of all
Newark gun violence in last 3 years
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The cameras are on lamp posts, above
intersections and on public & private buildings
Footage streams real-time to a police
communications center
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Clerks monitor footage and can adjust camera
focus and field of vision
Footage is stored for 30 days
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Dr. Byrne says NO
Research on CCTV in London, England says
NO
Or Does it Simply displace
crime?..
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The video surveillance unit has detected 289
criminal incidents for first quarter of 2008
Another 799 incidents were either called in to
911 or officers on patrol
Should the government be able to monitor
our public behavior, identify potential
offenders, and control the public’s access
to information that challenges
government authority and decisions?
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Since 2006 over 200,000 cameras installed in a
single Chinese city, Shenzhen.
Cameras appear in public places sometimes
disguised as lampposts
In next 3 years 2 million more CCTVs expected
to be installed in Shenzhen
"Since the surveillance cameras came in, we have
seen a very dramatic decrease in crime in
Shenzhen."
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The Chinese surveillance camera market saw
revenues of $4.1 billion in 2007, up 24% from
2006
New Technology is being field tested in China
today that will be available in the United States
in a few years, depending on how civil liberties
are viewed in the context of crime prevention
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One Chinese company has created software for
CCTVs that has the ability to alert police when
inordinate numbers of people begin to gather
in one location
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The future is that Chinese citizens will be
watched on CCTV, listened to on their cell
phones, monitored on digital voice recognition,
internet access limited via “The Great
Firewall”, and movements tracked via national
ID card
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The Golden Shield is the Chinese government
attempt to maintain power and complete
control over its citizens
The gov’t has been documented to have limited
internet access of foreign news outlets, block
cell phone calls and or text messages
Tibetan monks have proclaimed that cameras
have been introduced, unwillingly, to prayer
rooms and monasteries
Of Course, one unintended consequence of these
new technologies is that the public can
potentially monitor the police and public
officials
U.S. Examples: from Rodney King to U-tube
videos of police and govt officials
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New software, that should be out within a
year, will “have to be able to match a face in a
10 million database in one second.”
This is the next “big thing” this technology use
distance between eyes as a primary identifier,
because it is a feature that does not change with
age