The Greatest Innovations in Police Monitoring - Case Study Example

Monitoring by Police Order No. 282270 No. of pages: 6 1st 6530 Society can function smoothly only when it is governed by a set of rulescalled laws, and other defined patterns of behaviour sanctioned by it. The laws of the land are implemented by the judiciary, the lawmakers and the enforcers of law. This power to enforce the law, rests in the hand of the police, and this is made accountable by having a system of checks and balances, which include, “accountability to the law, accountability to police authorities and accountability through the police complaints system.”(Reiner, 2000) the police have been forced into vigilance because of the rising crime graph, with over 5 million crimes reported in the present day. One of the greatest innovations in police monitoring has been in the field of crime prevention with the aid of environmental design, since according to the British Crime Survey the largest number of crimes are reported against property. (Nick Taylor, n. d) The Home Office follows a situational approach where the security agencies are looking at ways to reduce criminal activities by means of greater physical security, increasing surveillance and an overall environmental survey. In his book titled “Understanding Crime Prevention” Hughes tells us that special “‘techniques’ are now embedded in most capitalist states’ policies of prevention and reduction.” (Hughes, Gordon, 1998) In highlighting the treacherous realities of criminal victimization, (Hughes, 2000) states that “Crime-evoked suffering is a social fact of living today, albeit fed and nurtured by often lurid media coverage.” He refers to this by saying “welcome to the risk society”! (Hughes, 2000) Alice Coleman researched upon the subject of building features, which gave greater opportunity for crime, such as walkways between building blocks and the British crime survey in 1982 recommended the use of entry phones and closed-circuit televisions as prevention measures and tools for monitoring the movement of people into and out of the building. High-rise buildings are monitored better when there is a concierge to physically complement the CCTV. (Comparative Debates - Safer by Design, Towards Effective Crime ...retrieved on 20.03.09) Questions about the need of the police to monitor the populace, and the methods employed to do so have been raised very often. The first instance when the police brought in modern technology to fight vandalism was in August 1985 at Bournemouth and present figures show that Britain has the most public CCTV schemes compared to most other countries. (Moran, J., A Brief Chronology of Photographic and Video Surveillance, in Surveillance, Closed Circuit Television And Social 280 (C. Norris et. al. eds., 1998) The use of CCTV is a kind of social control with the added benefit of bringing down crime rate, and its impact on economy and commerce where are also manifested. (Nick Taylor) The police is using the CCTV, also called "friendly eye in the sky” (An expression by Home Office Minister David Maclean. Another effective initiative of police monitoring is seen in the Neighborhood Watch committees, where the public and the police, in consort with each other come together to make the community invulnerable to threats. The police appoint a coordinator who supplies the police with information about the goings on in the neighborhood through the ‘Neighborhood Watch Messaging System, NWA (2009) which is then disseminated among the members of the community. The Internet has taken over the daily lives of people in more ways than thought possible and it has become a breeding ground for unsavory activities. The police have developed a program to monitor chat rooms, in accordance with the discussions had by police chiefs of various nations who together form the Virtual Global Task Force. The group has created a fake porn website featuring children, and repeated offenders were caught, when they were found to access the site continuously. (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/09/police_chat_rooms/ retrieved on 21.03.09) Monitoring on the Road Driving or more specifically, drunk driving on the roads is one of the most important activities to be monitored by the police. The most common method of controlling this is by using the random breath test, and police also plan to check the blood alcohol limit. The use of safety cameras is another monitoring option, but the best way to control driving related offences is through the enforcement of law by the police. (Commission Chair, Professor David Begg, UK Commission for Integrated Transport) In Finland, electronic devices called alcohol inter-locks or “alcolocks” are fitted into the vehicle, from which data about the driver and speed can be downloaded. Monitoring through CCTV Today in Britain the Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV) has become a vital tool in the hands of the police force to enhance security and prevent crimes. The Home Office Crime Reduction Programme set up a monitoring system making use of the CCTV initiative. This programme commenced in 1998 and a total of 684 CCTV projects were set up with the available resource of £170 million. These were installed at varied locations like towns and city centres, car parks and residential areas. (Gill, M. Swain, D., Spriggs, A., Allen, J., Argomaniz, J. and Waples, S. (2005e) There are various types of CCTV surveillance. The cameras are either static or they pan, tilt and zoom. The images displayed are analog or digital and they are transmitted through wireless links or cables. It is a situational measure which helps in the remote surveillance of a locale. The CCTV camera collects images which can be watched, stored and retrieved. (Gill et al 2005) This helps in quick response to incidents that occur and analysis of the incidents can be followed up at a later time. The CCTV control rooms are monitored either part time or full time. Monitoring is done by the person in charge. The said person may be a full time monitoring personnel or one who has other duties to fulfill apart from monitoring. The CCTV programme is neither a runaway success nor is it a misuse of money or affront to democracy. It is in fact a powerful tool, the uses of which are being revealed with every passing day. The CCTV is a seemingly uncomplicated system, but it has a large number of components and it needs to be used judiciously. Since there is continuous innovation in technology there is an urgent need for trained personnel to handle the various gadgets and systems. The CCTV has been effective in the sphere of locating missing children. Another area where the success of the programme has been established is in the controlling of anti-social and alcohol related crimes. ‘Acquisitive crimes’ (Deismann, 2003; Brown, 1995) were effectively handled by this programme. The levels of motor thefts have come down after the implementation of this programme even though it is not the sole reason for it. Drug related crimes too were better handled with the use of CCTV and the operators in the control room played a major role in it. Even though the CCTV programme is not an overwhelming success the general public is in favor of using it. In addition to these cameras are very useful in detecting and displaying large and troublesome crowds which could be dispersed in time before it becomes a mad mob. They are also used for moving out street – hawkers and traders and other “undesirables” (Gill, M. et al, 2005) such as beggars. The current literature on criminology involving crime prevention and public safety, seems to betaking on a global stance, but it has also come in for a lot of criticism and there are a lot of “growing doubts about the capacity of the sovereign nation-state to guarantee and supply order and security to citizens in their everyday lives (Hughes, 1998 and 2006, Garland, 2001). In response to the new logics of crime control and the different crises faced by the criminal justice system, there have been two logics since 1980’s that have been brought to the fore internationally – they are – a) The primary situational crime prevention and the b) Social crime prevention and community safety. (Crawford, 1998: 140) In passing his valuable comments on it Crawford, states that the above logics capture ‘the essential problematic which remains at the heart of crime prevention theory today: namely the tension between reducing opportunities through situational measures and social modes of intervention(Crawford, 1998: 140) He says that though these approaches are considered ‘history’ yet a primary shift has been noticed in the area of crime control. Though Crawford states that 1the “Nothing works” pessimism has been somewhat precipitated by taking away the criminological shift from the offender and placing it on the offence committed. (Crawford, 1998: 35) However, there are fears that involve macro- level crime pertaining to inter- communal conflicts that poses a great challenge to the government because “Governance theories crystallize in debates about security.” (Stenson, K. 2005) Kevin Clinton head of the road safety at Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, (RoSPA) Stated that the fact of the lower number of deaths on Britain’s roads (below 3,000) was welcome but also warned that complacency should be given no room. The lowest recorded since the last 80 years was 2, 943 deaths in 2007. (RoSPA, 2007) The RoSPA Advanced Drivers and Riders groups made suggestions such as refresher courses for drivers, more stringent rules on the road and enhanced training and assessments for drivers of various vehicles so that people could endeavor to be safer road users. Therefore looking at safety and safety measures from any angle, we find that the police have come a long way since the Stone Age and are well on their way to making this world a safer place at all costs. References Crawford, A (1998) Crime Prevention and Community Safety, London, Longman Garland, D (2001) The Culture of Control, Oxford, OUP. Gill, M., et al (2005) Assessing the impact of CCTV (The impact of CCTV: fourteen case studies) Gilling, D (1997) Crime Prevention: Theory, Policy and Politics, London, UCL. Hughes, G. (1998) Understanding Crime Prevention: Social Control, Risk and Late Modernity, Buckingham, Open University Press. Hughes, G (2000) ‘Community safety in the era of the risk society’ in Ballantyne, S et.al (eds.) Secure Foundations: Issues in Crime Prevention, Crime Reduction and Community Safety , London, IPPR. Home Office Research Study 292 (On-line Report 15/05) http://www.crimereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/cctv/cctv38.htm [14th November 2008] Moran, J., (1998) A Brief Chronology of Photographic and Video Surveillance, inSURVEILLANCE, CLOSED CIRCUIT TELEVISION AND SOCIAL CONTROL 280 (C. Norris et. al. eds., 1998) Nick Taylor (1999) Lecturer in Law University of Leeds, ARTICLE: Closed Circuit Television: The British Experience Leeds, United Kingdom. Copyright (c) 1999 Stanford Technology Law Review. All Rights Reserved. NWA (2009) The National Neighborhood Watch Association. http://www.neighbourhoodwatch.net/ [23rd January 2009 Reiner, R. (2000): The Politics of the Police (3rd Ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. Stenson, K. (2005) Journal of ‘Sovereignty, bio-politics and local government of crime in Britain. Theoretical Criminology, Vol. 9, No. 3 265 – 287. Buckinghamshire Chilterns University College, UK Internet Sources Comparative Debates - Safer by Design, Towards Effective Crime ... http://www.iss.co.za/Pubs/Monographs/No16/ComparativeDebates.html Police to monitor chat rooms • The Register http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/06/09/police_chat_rooms/ Drink Driving Monitor http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:gfy4_JS_ld4J:www.etsc.be/documents/DDMonitor1_Final.pdf+how+the+police+monitors+in+driving+UK&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=in UK Commission for Integrated Transport http://www.cfit.gov.uk/pn/031209/ Martin Gill. Assessing the Impact of CCTV: the Hawkeye Case study www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/rdsolr1205.pdf Gill, M., Swain, D., Spriggs, A., Allen, J., Argomaniz, J. and Waples, S. (2005e):. Assessing the Impact of CCTV – The South City Case Study, Home Office ... www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs05/hors292.pdf RoSPA: Press Release: Record road Deaths Low…. www.rospa.com/news/releases/2008/pr615_26_08_08_road.htm Read More