70% of Americans Favor Public Cameras

[LongBlade]

This is interesting.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 18% of American Adults oppose the use of surveillance and security cameras in public places. Seventy percent (70%) support the use of such cameras.

I don't mind cameras used by private entities. That's what was used to catch the bad guys from last week.

I'm not convinced I want unlimited placement of cameras in public places by the government.

[Gusington]

Too late to decide if we like them or not, whoever owns them.

[mirth]

Too late to decide if we like them or not, whoever owns them.

QFT. The debate is over. Learn to love them.

[Silent Disapproval Robot]

Too late to decide if we like them or not, whoever owns them.

I think Google does.  The gubmint isn't allowed to share them or give them away to anyone else once they're done with them.

[Steelgrave]

Not everyone is in favor of the widespread use of cameras.....like law enforcement. When it's pointed at them at least.

http://www.photographyisnotacrime.com/

[bayonetbrant]

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 18% of American Adults oppose the use of surveillance and security cameras in public places. Seventy percent (70%) support the use of such cameras.

that because 70% of the US public are f'n' morons...  a fact that is continually (re)confirmed on a daily basis.

[W8taminute]

The times are a changing.  I just didn't think they would change so soon and so fast.

[LongBlade]

Not everyone is in favor of the widespread use of cameras.....like law enforcement. When it's pointed at them at least.

http://www.photographyisnotacrime.com/

Photographs in public are free game as far as I'm concerned. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

[mirth]

Not everyone is in favor of the widespread use of cameras.....like law enforcement. When it's pointed at them at least.

http://www.photographyisnotacrime.com/

Photographs in public are free game as far as I'm concerned. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.

Maybe a good way to make some cash. Photograph cops, they wrongfully arrest you, you sue and receive nice fat settlement.

[pawelj]

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 18% of American Adults oppose the use of surveillance and security cameras in public places. Seventy percent (70%) support the use of such cameras.

that because 70% of the US public are f'n' morons...  a fact that is continually (re)confirmed on a daily basis.

That 70% keeps popping up again and again, don't it?

[Gusington]

It's definitely way more than 70%.

[Martok]

I can't decide if Orson Welles is rolling in his grave or laughing his ass off. 

[LongBlade]

Well, apparently our concerns about cameras everywhere may be somewhat overblown.

Unsurprisingly, despite having the best tools money can buy, they don't work that well.

Many residents question the effectiveness of London's system, however. In 2008, only one crime was solved for every 1,000 cameras, according to the city's police. CCTV cameras across Britain also cost authorities nearly $800 million over the past four years, according to civil liberties group Big Brother Watch.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/26/tech/innovation/security-cameras-boston-bombings/index.html?hpt=us_c1

[Zulu1966]

Well, apparently our concerns about cameras everywhere may be somewhat overblown.

Unsurprisingly, despite having the best tools money can buy, they don't work that well.

Many residents question the effectiveness of London's system, however. In 2008, only one crime was solved for every 1,000 cameras, according to the city's police. CCTV cameras across Britain also cost authorities nearly $800 million over the past four years, according to civil liberties group Big Brother Watch.

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/26/tech/innovation/security-cameras-boston-bombings/index.html?hpt=us_c1

Well - one estimate put the number of cameras in london alone at 422,000 - so thats 422 crimes solved. If they were all murders, rapes etc  - I guess its worth it ? CCTV is one of the few growth industries we have left so ....

[LongBlade]

Keynesian economics is typically inefficient as a jobs creator.

Unfortunately we don't have any apples-to-apples comparitors of cost. The number out of that article is

CCTV cameras across Britain also cost authorities nearly $800 million over the past four years, according to civil liberties group Big Brother Watch.

But that's across the entire nation.

This article is from 2007 and suggests that using cameras does little to improve solving crime and, in fact, seems to suggest that crimes committed in areas with cameras are actually less likely to be solved.

"We have estimated that CCTV cameras have cost the taxpayer in the region of £200million in the last 10 years but it's not entirely clear if some of that money would not have been better spent on police officers.

"Although CCTV has its place, it is not the only solution in preventing or detecting crime.

"Too often calls for CCTV cameras come as a knee-jerk reaction. It is time we engaged in an open debate about the role of cameras in London today."

Source: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/tens-of-thousands-of-cctv-cameras-yet-80-of-crime-unsolved-6684359.html

Given that it would appear we're better off without cameras than with them.