Our surveillance society is wrong
THE paramount threat to the liberty of the individual in today's Britain is that forerunner of the totalitarian state, "the surveillance society".
Britain is the most watched nation in Europe.
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But all that surveillance is doing nothing to tackle terrorism or criminality.
The surveillance society needs to be rolled back before all of our civil liberties evaporate from the heat of the authoritarian state, whose encroaching tentacles are disrupting and restricting our liberty.
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The reliance on CCTV for crime prevention needs to be reversed in favour of visible deterrence in the form of more plain-clothed and uniformed store detectives.
One of the problems that CCTV helps to tackle is town and city-centre disturbances, where drunkenness occurs.
Here, the cost of the CCTV could pay for more police on the beat instead.
Let's halt the extension of this surveillance society before it encroaches on any more of our civil liberties.
Who needs it? No one.
Oliver Healey, Leicester.
RACISM in football? Kick it out – of course – no argument here at all.
But doesn't it sound hypocritical and just a little inconsistent when nothing seems to be done about the obscene chanting that accompanies the visiting goalie taking his goal kicks?
The crescendo of voices shouting "s**t" is, I would argue, equally offensive.
Here a human being is being compared to excreta. The colour of his skin might just come in here but is really irrelevant.
However passionate may be the support, this is crude and of the same order as racist chanting.
Everybody does it so there is no excuse. Come on, Leicester, set the standard of human decency.
Gerald Gardiner, Oadby.
Wayne Henderson, of Leicester, was quite right in saying cyclists would be safer wearing crash helmets ("I would not cycle without a helmet", Mailbox, June 22).
My father, an ex-Army musician with Sherwood Foresters and King's Own Scottish Border Regiments, got knocked off his bicycle in 1934, when I was six years old.
He died of head injuries in Derby Royal Infirmary in 1934, when I was too young to know what pain was.
He died after about three days.
That was long before crash helmets were in vogue.
I always wear mine when I'm cycling.
Frank Evans, Enderby.
Comments
by 4_Stroke
Tuesday, October 30 2012, 3:48PM
“LikeItaLot…. Just look at the crime figures before CCTV and see if they have recorded a dramatic reduction. You need to look at surrounding areas to make sure it has not been pushed elsewhere. It seems like all you need to do is cover your face and cameras are useless, hardly anyone is looking at the real time footage so don't expect anyone to come running to your aid if you get assaulted, its an illusion of safety.
I would like to see the value of cameras studied to see if they represent value for money against actually having bobbies on the streets.”
by LikeItaLot
Monday, October 29 2012, 10:40PM
“It is hard to say if cameras have any preventative effect on crime or perhaps deterrent is a better word. Taking some cash out of the ATM yesterday i was glad they were up on the wall with some characters nearby, but unless you shut them all down and then did a comparative study hard to say”
by 4_Stroke
Monday, October 29 2012, 8:45AM
“There are over 2000 cameras in Leicester, Does anyone actualy feel any safer for them? They only seem to record crime, not prevent it.”
by LikeItaLot
Saturday, October 27 2012, 1:55PM
“"The surveillance society needs to be rolled back before all of our civil liberties evaporate from the heat of the authoritarian state, whose encroaching tentacles are disrupting and restricting our liberty."
And what are you not able to do now that you would if there were no or less cameras? Think about it, because as a law-abiding person I can't”