This evening, a group of SNHU students took me out for dinner. As Wee Han correctly puts it, it is not a farewell because I am not really going away. To him and the others, it is more a post-exam celebration with their lecturer. Thank you for giving me the privilege to spend time with you outside of the classroom.
In Malaysia, the local government and housing ministry is intending to spend RM240 million to install closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) at locations identified by the police as crime hotspots in cities and towns nationwide. This love of surveillance cameras is part of the government’s initiative to reduce crime and make our streets safer with the aim of reducing the overall crime index by 25 per cent come 2015 (under the National Key Results Area on crime) – as reported by The Malaysian Insider today.
To most Malaysians fearful of rising crime rates, this can be reassuring. But technoloy isn't everything. We may be overestimating the usefulness of CCTVs as an instrument to deter crime through surveillance. It must be highlighted that massive investment in CCTVs in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on them – this warning came from the head of the Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido) at New Scotland Yard. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe (Webpage http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/06/ukcrime1, posted May 06, 2008). No doubt the statistic is 2 years old but I do not believe that the outcome is significantly different even today.
So we must not assume that CCTVs are an instant remedy to combat crime. At the end of the day, nothing beats a highly visible police presence!
In Malaysia, the local government and housing ministry is intending to spend RM240 million to install closed-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) at locations identified by the police as crime hotspots in cities and towns nationwide. This love of surveillance cameras is part of the government’s initiative to reduce crime and make our streets safer with the aim of reducing the overall crime index by 25 per cent come 2015 (under the National Key Results Area on crime) – as reported by The Malaysian Insider today.
To most Malaysians fearful of rising crime rates, this can be reassuring. But technoloy isn't everything. We may be overestimating the usefulness of CCTVs as an instrument to deter crime through surveillance. It must be highlighted that massive investment in CCTVs in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on them – this warning came from the head of the Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido) at New Scotland Yard. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe (Webpage http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/may/06/ukcrime1, posted May 06, 2008). No doubt the statistic is 2 years old but I do not believe that the outcome is significantly different even today.
So we must not assume that CCTVs are an instant remedy to combat crime. At the end of the day, nothing beats a highly visible police presence!
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