The Best Of Intentions

Jun 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Larry Anderson, Editor

In Great Britain, I learned recently, video cameras in public places are referred to as “community safety cameras.” It strikes me as a much better way to describe the systems that are gaining popularity in this country as a means of transforming troubled urban areas into pleasant places to live.

Across the pond, we all know, the Brits are way ahead of us in the use of video to protect public streets, boosted over the years by government funding and largely in response to a lingering threat of IRA terrorists.

At the ADT Media Summit in California recently, Sir Chris Fox — a 34-year veteran of British law enforcement who is now a consultant — provided an overview of Britain's success story related to video in public venues, including the observation that the word “surveillance” isn't generally used to describe the systems. Instead of an emphasis on watching (as in “surveillance”), the emphasis is on protecting (as in “safety”). “People understand that's what the intention is, and officers use the systems with that in mind,” Fox says. The goal is not to target an individual but to ensure overall community safety.

I don't want to obsess about a choice of language (although I have clearly been guilty of doing just that previously in this space), but words do have power … and perception can be very important. “Surveillance” by the government in this day and age is fraught with sinister connotations — whether they involve the government watching our banking habits, our Internet activities, or whatever. Better not to tag video systems with such an emotion-charged term. “Community safety cameras” not only sounds better, but is more accurate.

Video, as they say in Britain, is “the friendly eye in the sky …. The innocent have nothing to fear.”

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