Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

London Police Equipped With 360-Degree Cams

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the you-couldn't-make-it-up dept.

OriginalArlen writes, "In a story so surreal I had to check the primary source, the Register reports that the (London, UK) Metropolitan Police are trying out the use of eight tiny cams, mounted in the police helmet, to provide 360-degree evidence gathering in the event that an officer witnesses a crime. The press release also gives more evidence of the stealth spread of ubiquitous ANPR systems across the country as a spin-off 'benefit' to the London car congestion-charging scheme, which is likely to be rolled out across the country in the next few years. Are we already living in a Panopticon Society?" According to this report from the information commissioner for Great Britain, yep.

4 of 244 comments (clear)

  1. Not 360 by HFShadow · · Score: 4, Informative

    The camera's are NOT 360 degree.

    Article with picture

    1. Re:Not 360 by frdmfghtr · · Score: 4, Informative
      From the original article at http://www.kablenet.com/kd.nsf/Frontpage/341C20ABD 4A1A1878025722C004DD886?OpenDocument:

      Officers in the 19 safer neighbourhood teams in the Haringey area have been issued with eight cameras, each the size of an AA battery, that record video images to a special utility belt. They are activated by a switch on the belt.


      The submitter probably assumed that all eight cameras were on one helmet, covering 360 degrees. It's like that party game where you tell a "secret" and wait to see how badly it gets mangled by the time it reaches the original source.

      Nowhere in the original story or in the Register posting does it say anything about 360 degree coverage. Sure, it's 360 degrees--if the bobby wearing it does a little twirl.

      Submitter doesn't read the submission, editors don't read the submission...just another day on /.

      --
      Government's idea of a balanced budget: take money from the right pocket to balance...oh who am I kidding?
  2. As a side note.. by KeepQuiet · · Score: 4, Informative

    From BBC : "The average citizen in the UK is caught on CCTV cameras 300 times a day."

  3. Re:If we aren't careful, this will happen here too by mustafap · · Score: 4, Informative

    >Response to terrorism (from the IRA) was one of drivers of the UKs current propensity towards spying on its citizens

    No, it isn't. We have far greater problems in our country with our drunken citizens on a saturday night than with terrorism.

    --
    Open Source Drum Kit, LPLC deve board - mjhdesigns.com