Saturday, 10 May 2008

In Passing

Government by toddlers


Chris Soghoian:

The United Kingdom has the most surveillance cameras per capita in the world. With the recent news that CCTV cameras do not actually deter crime, how can the local town councils justify the massive surveillance program? By going after pooping dogs.
And...
  • ...littering,
  • ...misuse of a disabled parking badge.
  • ...to identify a false claim for damages.
  • ...to spy on a person who was working while off sick.
But how many real criminals?
“It's been an utter fiasco: only 3 percent of crimes were solved by CCTV.” - Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville[1], head of the Metropolitan Police’s Visual Images Office, as quoted by The Guardian

Any parent will immediately recognize the Toddler Syndrome. Tell your 5-year-old to clean up his room. Wait two hours. Then:
“I thought I told you to clean up your room.”
“Look at this pretty picture I just drew.”
“What about your room?”
“In a minute!”

With governments, it’s only slightly different:
“We’re going to institute all these Draconian Measures to deprive you of liberty, so we can catch Criminals, Pedophiles, and Terrorists.”
Wait six months. Then:
“Excuse me, I was just wondering...”
“What!? Can’t you see that I’m busy?”
“Ummm... about all those Draconian Measures?”
“Yes?”
“Well, weren’t they going to help you catch...?”
“Oh yes, sir!  We caught: five poopy dogs, a half-dozen litterbugs, two men illegally using disabled parking passes, and another man who took off work ill, but turned out to be perfectly healthy!”
“But what about Criminals, Pedophiles, and Terrorists?”
“No sir! None of them, sir!  But we will sir, just you wait!”


(Not to mention that catching Criminals, Pedophiles, and Terrorists might be dangerous. It’s far easier (and safer!) for the petty and vindictive (i.e., most bureaucrats) to sit in front of their screens and use what they see to hassle people who won’t fight back, i.e., the average citizen.)

London Transport poster (really!)


Via: Daily Pundit
--------
[1] Who is, unsurprisingly, calling for More Of The Same.
For the story of the image, start here. Another take.

Posted by: Old Grouch in In Passing at 19:49:17 GMT | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 331 words, total size 5 kb.

Comments are disabled. Post is locked.
71kb generated in CPU 0.0228, elapsed 0.0877 seconds.
51 queries taking 0.0712 seconds, 207 records returned.
Powered by Minx 1.1.6c-pink.