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Scotland Yard Chief: Put CCTV In Every Home To Help Solve Crimes

Posted by samzenpus on from the all-the-better-to-see-you-with dept.

schwit1 writes Homeowners should consider fitting CCTV to trap burglars, the country's most senior police officer declared yesterday. Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said police forces needed more crime scene footage to match against their 12 million images of suspects and offenders. And he called on families and businesses to install cameras at eye level – to exploit advances in facial recognition technology.

9 of 282 comments (clear)

  1. Seriously? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Then again, Orwell did write that tyranny in UK would come in the guise of nationalism and security

    1. Re:Seriously? by ubrgeek · · Score: 5, Funny

      > A mask is generally hot, a pain in the but

      You do know the mask goes on your other head, right?

      --
      Bark less. Wag more.
  2. RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    The entire article was about putting the camera you have in the proper position to get a face shot, which they can match to mug shots. They get too many videos of the top of the head, and that doesn't solve the crime. He was not asking that everyone provide a live feed from their house.

    1. Re:RTFA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      Hook. Line. Sinker.

    2. Re:RTFA by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Maybe the good Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe should be "encouraged" to volunteer his home as the test bed. And use lots of cameras - those Brits just love their security cameras, you know. "A camera on every corner." So, put them in the corner in the bedroom, the bathroom, the living room, the kitchen (so we can all watch them ruin a good piece of meat by boiling it to death and then some), the kids rooms, the garage, etc.

      You know - practice what you preach or stop preaching.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    3. Re:RTFA by jez9999 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Maybe the good Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe should be "encouraged" to volunteer his home as the test bed. And use lots of cameras - those Brits just love their security cameras, you know.

      I'm British. I swear to god we're not all like this. Some of us absolutely do not want to live in a surveillence state and assholes like ACPO and "the head of Scotland Yard" are terribly unrepresentative of public opinion, in general. There are, however, a core of authoritarians who see no problem with removal of privacy. Just not most of us.

      --
      == Jez ==
      Do you miss Firefox? Try Pale Moon.
    4. Re:RTFA by rmdingler · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Then it will become more common practice to cut lines to the places they will rob, if there is a live feed.

      Skilled burglars have been cutting power and phone lines for years, since alarm systems have been in relative widespread use since the 90's. Many homes that report intruder alerts over land lines are easily defeated in this manner, especially if the loudspeaker in the attic can be disabled.

      The new systems that report via wifi are still somewhat neutralized by the power outage throwing a main disconnect at the electrical feed, although they may report the power outage as an alarm trigger.

      I'm sure people wouldn't want that in their bedroom either. There was enough of a fuss about the Kinect always being on. There is no sinker here.

      An alarm system company was out in force in our town a year or so ago, knocking doors and offering the wifi thermostat with the whole house protection system. It came with a door keypad entry system, internet accessibility, and a free camera you could place wherever you wanted.

      An attractive gal pal of mine had the complimentary camera in her bedroom... the sales rep had recommended installing it there and it never occurred to her what a poor placement that might be. So yeah, maybe there's a sinker...

      --
      Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

      Ernest Hemingway

    5. Re:RTFA by Obfuscant · · Score: 5, Informative

      The "CC" in CCTV originally stood for "Charge Coupled", as in "Charge Coupled Device" - the sensor in the camera.

      CCTV existed when the "sensor" was an orthicon, so no, "CCTV" does NOT stand for "charge coupled TV". The CC stands for "closed circuit", and always has.

  3. Re:Clickbait title by nehumanuscrede · · Score: 5, Insightful

    In a country where Law Enforcement can jail you for not handing over encryption keys on demand, I don't know how comfortable I would be on having any recorded footage that could also be subject to the same line of thinking in the future.

    Eg: Hand over your CCTV footage to prove you were home last night or we put you in jail.

    Not to sound TOO tin-foil hat here, but I tend to view anything that Law Enforcement says these days with a bit of apprehension / suspicion.
    Regardless of how well it sounds at the time.