The Runner Debate: CCTV Cameras Create The Illusion of Security

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An ongoing commitment to the safety and security of all its members by our fine university sounds like it might actually lead to something useful, but instead has caused KPU to install external closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras at our Surrey campus.

Perhaps they forgot about the level of surveillance we are currently under, since we insist on carrying around a microphone and two cameras at almost all hours of the day. And that’s just our cellphones.

That doesn’t even include the other cameras that are planted around our society, scattered across buildings, perched next to streetlights, or built into our computers and laptops. At least one eye is fixed on us at almost all hours of the day, like a scolding father who refuses to let his children roam where he can’t see them.

But the important question is whether such surveillance yields the results we’re looking for, and in that realm CCTV won’t do.

These cameras, in the case of KPU, capture video footage without any audio for twenty-four hours everyday, and this footage is archived for thirty days. This is intended to serve as a safety and security incident investigative tool.

Regardless of how useful the footage is, the importance of these cameras is their effect on human behavior. Predatory individuals will be looking for a good spot to engage in harmful activities without getting caught and they will look elsewhere if they see a camera.

While an advocate for these cameras may see this as a win for his or her camp, the statement produced by KPU about these cameras claim that will be placed in “public areas where there would be no reasonable expectation of privacy.”

A predatory person would not have been looking for a victim in such a place—camera or no camera—which means that they will not act as a deterrent for these disturbed people.

Although the camera, as an object, may be of no use, surely the footage is. Suppose an assault is committed on campus, in full view of one of these cameras, and recorded. This incident is reported to campus security and one of the officers reviews the footage.

Even if it were unmistakable that a crime had been committed, the level of clarity offered by CCTV cameras would make it almost impossible to identify the perpetrator.
If the perpetrator cannot be identified, then the footage is rendered useless. It would preserve the crime, but fail to assist security in ensuring the guilty party does the time.

That means that KPU has just invested its limited funding into purchasing equipment that lacks value as a deterrent and the information that it collects is also of no use.

Yet there is hope for this fumble. When students glance around campus and see cameras perched on rooftops and canopies, many will sigh in relief, knowing that they are “safe” and under the watchful eye of people who are without an understanding of security’s purpose.

To be fair, KPU claims that CCTV cameras are only one component of the university’s “overall safety and security strategy.” The university has taken a step towards creating an environment of false security and if they continue, then it’s unlikely that students will see a truly safe campus soon.