Can CTV stop crime before it happens?

Story link: Can CTV stop crime before it happens? by Jan Harris

Portsmouth has become one of the first cities to use futuristic ‘Minority Report’ type CCTV cameras.

The cameras are likely to add to fears that Britain is becoming a surveillance society, especially as they could result in innocent people being asked to account for their actions when they had no intention of committing a crime.

The CCTV system features behaviour-recognition software that is programmed to identify suspicious behaviour, such as vehicles moving too slowly which could therefore be kerb crawling, or people loitering in a certain area.

The company behind the software, Smart CCTV, denies that the system is a further erosion of privacy and says that it is up to the operator to decide whether to call the police, all the system does is alert the operator to potential problems.

The system is being trialled in Portsmouth, but it has already been used successfully in the USA.

Undoubtedly some people will welcome smart CCTV as a step forward in the fight against crime, but those more concerned about privacy will see it as a step in the wrong direction.