Sunday, November 4, 2012

The Society’s Ethical Stance On The Use Of CCTV In Public Place



Introduction
According to Fernie (1995), the enduring evolution and assortment of out-of-town and edge-of-town shopping development is viewed by mane pose to a major challenge to the traditional retail activities in town and city centers, and more fundamentally to the centers themselves. So, to overcome this problem CCTV was invented. The USA developed the first CCTV camera in the 1940’s and this advance technology was created to monitor the testing of the V2 missile, as the USA intended to attack Germany with the combat-ballistic rocket. In 1960, Britain had begun installing CCTV cameras during rallies and during the appearance of a public figure such as the Prime Minister or members of the Royal Family. Due to the success of the cameras, the technology of CCTV started to develop and the Government slowly began placing CCTV in roads, public rail stations, shops and various businesses. Today, CCTV cameras are easy to obtain, because of this many people have decided to install these monitoring systems in and outside of their homes; with their purpose to capture burglars, cheating spouses, anti-social behavior or to monitor their child’s nanny. They also act as a deterrent, as a burglar or gang may decide to leave a property or homeowner alone if they notice they have taken measures that could ultimately land them in court or prison.


Background
CCTV is widely used especially in Malaysia itself. In this academic writing, the society’s ethical stance on the use of CCTV in public place will be discussed. The CCTV is widely used nowadays by government to manage the activity in the city and the public. It is also is being used by the shopping complex, the road side, and many others to watch the activities around their area. Basically CCTV surveillance will have a camera, a television monitor and recording equipment. Frequently it is situated in a high visibility location to provide coverage of the focused area and the video pictures it generates of sites and activities via a private transmission system. More commonly, a system will enjoy multiple cameras and split screen monitors, more sophisticated cameras can offer pan, tilt and zoom functions and infra-red spot lighting can be added for night time vision and surveillance.

Pros and Cons
Advantages of surveillance system in public places:
  • ·         CRIME DETERRENT
When people know that they are being monitored, they possibility of committing crimes are lower than normal because they know that they are going to be in trouble if they do so. Hence, vandalism and other acts of violence may be reduced. Security camera can act as a proactive method to prevent crime before it happens. For an example, if there is someone who commits a crime and caught on camera, police and other law enforcement officials can use that footage to release a recorded video or photos in public via various media.
  • ·         PEOPLES SAFETY
With these advanced and high quality security camera installed on the public streets, the community will feel much safer and secured to walk down the streets and even plays with their children at parks. Another thing is for the safety of the children. By being surrounded by such system would be a great relief and increasing feel of trust. This is because the cameras have high quality of videos that will capture the details of the kidnapper in case of kidnapping of children may ever happen in that neighborhood.

  • ·         PREVENT HARRESMENT
Nowadays, harassment in public places had become a common thing. It can take in various forms however, not all are reported to the police department. With the technology of video surveillance systems, it can record both video and audio, thus become a very helpful source for the police or detectives to investigate and detect the doers.

Disadvantages of surveillance system in public places:
  • ·         PRIVACY VIOLATION
If we install too many CCTV in public place, peoples will become uncomfortable with that. Sometimes, peoples also need their own privacy time and place for intimates, family or business meetings in restaurant, malls, swimming pools or any public place. however, those person that in charge the surveillance system also consider for not putting the CCTV in public toilet or public fitting rooms and it is still maintain a bit privacy for people .

  • ·         CCTV SYSTEMS ARE NOT PERFECT.
Nowadays, the security cameras have improved their features but it is still lack of functions. Even the camera positioned correctly but not all of the crime or misbehavior done in that area was captured and it doesn’t work as the way we want them too.

Conclusion
CCTV surveillance systems have become a progressive commonplace and the most important component in town and city centers throughout the world. Currently, the society, government and police support the use of CCTV in public area. However, the use of CCTV in public need to be checked frequently because it might be some of the organization will be misused of the CCTV. It also seems important to construct framework to monitor the longer term impact of CCTV and to build a range of evaluation procedures with which measure its impact on our country.

References 
wasimasghar2011, (2011). CCTV history and CCTV in a Surveillance Society, History of CCTV
Date of Extraction : 25th October 2012 
http://wasimasghar2011.hubpages.com/hub/CCTV-history-and-CCTV-in-a-Surveillance-Society

CCTV System, History of CCTV Technology 
Date of Extraction : 27th October 2012 
http://www.cctvsystems.com/history-of-cctv

Rutland Savour, The Origin of CCTV
Date of Extraction : 28th October 2012 
http://www.ubscure.com/Art/98123/194/The-History-of-CCTV-Cameras.html

Candida Harris, Peter Jones, David Hillier, David Turner, (1998),"CCTV surveillance systems in  town and city centre management", Property Management, Vol. 16 Iss: 3 pp. 160 - 165

Ray Surrette, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Central Florida,Orlando, Florida, USA."Pros and cons of second generation CCTV surveillance systems".

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