By Brian Lee
I used to sit pretty comfortably on the side of folks who oppose the proliferation of surveillance cameras. I still do, in principle, because modern authorities seem to use Orwell’s 1984 as a how-to-manual now instead of a warning.
Video surveillance is a powerful tool and many believe it restricts our personal freedom. But even I have to admit to experiencing extreme pleasure when I stumble upon a news report with video or still images of a soon-to-be-identified jackass committing a crime while he thought he was invisible. More and more, I find myself reluctantly appreciating the benefits of the technology over the obvious privacy dangers.
Recently, arsonists burned a family’s remote summer cabin on Pitt Lake to the ground. The cabin had been vandalized 20 times in the past three years so a relative decided to install a simple hunting camera in a tree nearby.
Enter stage right: Three lifejacket-wearing Maple Ridge morons. They snoop around and then, fire. The images retrieved from the camera were clearer than most cell phone selfies. Commenters on the Global News website quickly identified the alleged arsonists, even posting links to their facebook profiles. Not long after, the three men in their 20s turned themselves in. And it’s safe to say none of this would have happened without surveillance footage (and the Internet).
The investigation weeks ago of the disappearance of a Calgary couple and their grandson centred on surveillance footage of a truck passing through the neighbourhood that led to the man eventually charged with their murder. Locally, a security camera at a summer cabin on Nelson Island captured images of plundering thieves a few years back. I’m not sure if they were ever caught but the RCMP circulated the images widely.
While it makes their jobs easier, those same law enforcement agencies have a hard time ducking justice themselves when video surfaces of a cop giving some poor sucker a boot to the face. It’s safe to assume police officers everywhere conduct themselves better because of cameras.
Besides, surveillance cameras contribute a disproportionately large share of the entertainment found on sites like YouTube. Case in point: If it weren’t for surveillance footage, I may never have had the opportunity to watch that convenience store clerk fall through the cellar opening a hundred times or so.
everything is being recorded. You are picked up on surveillance cameras when you enter the Madeira Park Shopping Centre and its shops, when you fill up your car with gas and any number of other places you frequent daily.
Our lives have become much less private than even 10 years ago. And it seems to me that we are starting to like it.
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