Whilst I have every sympathy with people on the receiving end of this anti social behaviour, is CCTV really the answer to it.
Many surveys recently conducted have concluded that there is no associated crime rate drop on CCTV surveillance areas. In fact, it has been suggested that investment in decent lighting detracts the criminal more so than CCTV.
CCTV has been useful in tracking vehicles and for enforcement of minor traffic violations such as unauthorised bus lane use.
I believe that many retailers do not sell alcohol to minors as the penalties are harsh.
The problem seems to be that many people of low social responsible, who are the legally prescribed age, buy these drinks on behalf of minors.
We are slowly reaching a saturation point of surveillance, and it is easy to pass hasty ill thought out legislation as an
electorate appeasement measure than it is to tackle the problem head on.
There can be no greater deterrent than the human resource, wisely passed legislation and a respect for authority. Once one of these factors is compromised, enforcement becomes difficult.
Draconian legislation is being introduced with every man, woman and child being a potential suspect awaiting elimination dependant on CCTV footage analysis and database investigation.
For those who say âif you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fearâ, allow me to quote from Henry Porter:
"If youâve done nothing wrong youâve got nothing to fear". Not true. There is something to fear - because someone elseâs liberty is also your liberty. When itâs removed from them, itâs taken from you even though you may not be able to conceive of the circumstances when you might need it.
The surveillance society is where the state will crowd in on the individual human experience and threaten the unguarded freedoms of privacy, solitude, seclusion and anonymity. We may continue to attest to the feeling of freedom but in reality we will suffer more and more restrictions.
Inexorably we are becoming subjects not citizens, units on a database that may be observed and classified by a Government which is taking control in areas where it has never dared in democratic times to trespass before.
I remind you of the massive data loss of compromising details so far, from the child benefits agency, through to HMRC, and this is only the beginning of the data collection.
Also it is worth noting that councils are being told by the police to blanket all establishments that sell alcohol with CCTV or revoke their licence. This is concerning. ( I shall remain off the topic of the constabulary which installed CCTV in its tea room to ensure all officers washed up after themselves).
The function of the police is not to introduce legislative policy, and a move into this area will be a move closer to a police state.