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> People always say they want more police on the street, so if each of these cameras was replaced with a uniformed policeman watching the street would this be b
by maaku 14y ago
> People always say they want more police on the street, so if each of these cameras was replaced with a uniformed policeman watching the street would this be better or worse?
Better, unequivocally. Why wouldn't it be?
- jiggy2011 14y agoI mean specifically from a "civil liberties" point of view, i.e your are being watched either way but CCTV happens to be cheaper (though less effective).
- maaku 14y agoI meant my comment from the "civil liberties" point of view too. CCTV leaves a permanent record, accessible in perpetuity and to the authorities only. But if a police officer were on the street instead, public activities would remain pseudoanonymous so long as he's not paying attention or what you're doing doesn't otherwise stand out as important to the cop in the moment.
- DanBC 14y agoBecause cctv cameras are not (at present) armed and thus can't kill innocent people. Nor are they racist and thus they can't beat someone close to death thereby starting riots. And that's real, trained, qualified, experienced, officers. Imagine what it's like if you have people like the UK "Special Constables" (PCSO, Police Community Support Officer) - volunteer police with limited powers (and training). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Community_Support_Officer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_Community_Support_Offic...) Police on the streets probably aren't much good at catching criminals; from the little I've read there needs to be more detectives but not more beat officers.
- jiggy2011 14y agoPCSOs are not volunteers, they are paid. Special Constables are volunteers. PCSOs generally do not have any more rights than any normal citizen in terms of arrest etc and therefor don't really have grounds to make threats against you (apart from using their radio to call an actual police officer).
- frobozz 14y agoSpecial Constables are properly trained, qualified and warranted volunteer "real" police officers. PCSOs are paid, barely trained normal citizens with a police-like uniform.
- kristopolous 14y agoMore police mean more people. More people mean more mistakes. And when police make mistakes people die or at best go to jail unnecessarily. Law enforcement is entrenched with a stand-your-ground-to-hell-with-the-facts culture. Their job is essentially to find "bad guys" so when there are many more cops then bad guys, the category of bad-guy gets vastly expanded. In 2002 at LAX there were so many cops it was ridiculous. My friend got a ticket for littering and I got one for jaywalking. Actually he was going to arrest me at first. So yes, please, I want that experience everywhere I go. If I walk briskly, well then I should be stopped and questioned. If I stop slightly ahead of the line at the crosswalk, I should get a $500 fine every time and eventually lose my license. But the police of course can simply turn on their sirens and go through whatever red light they please, or park in front of a hydrant, or on a sidewalk, they are above the law after all. This overreaching police state sounds simply wonderful. Where does one sign up?
- im3w1l 14y agoPolice need to be convinced that your oppresive dictatorship is a good thing. Cameras wont revolt.
- Evbn 14y agoThe history of military recruiting, and even police recruiting, shows that this check is a non-issue. Police departments hire power tripping bullies who enjoy harassing dirty/brown/hippy/communitst/Irish/whatever.
- pbhjpbhj 14y agoI don't know more than half-a-dozen policemen but none of them fit that description.
- clarky07 14y agoRight. 6 people in your anecdotal experience is a good rebuttal when compared with thousands of years of world history where there have been no problems finding people to do awful things. For the most obvious example, go to Germany in WWII. No idea why the grandparent is being down voted.
- jasonlotito 14y agoThat's a pretty strong stance you are taking. To suggest that policeman trump cameras unequivocally, well, you'd have to ignore history to make that case. Just reading through various threads here and I see examples of cases where cameras solved problems better then people could have.