FC: We clearly need more spycams: British crooks are evading 'em

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

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From: Anonymous User <anonymous () remailer havenco com>
To: declan () well com
Subject: British Criminals Learn to Foil Surveillance Cams
Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2002 20:13:46 +0000 (UTC)

From United Press International, available online at:
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=08032002-020813-4448r

'Spy' cameras vs villains in Britain

By Al Webb
United Press International
Published 3/8/2002 3:18 PM

LONDON, March 8 (UPI) -- Big brother is big business in the battle
against crime in Britain, but photo-shy villains have developed a bag
of new tricks to elude the gaze of thousands of surveillance cameras
that now dot its cities, towns and villages.

With 1.5 million closed-circuit television systems watching its
streets, office buildings, schools, shopping centers and roads, Britain
is one of the most closely monitored nations on the planet, and the
government is spending another $115 million for more TV eyes.

But crime is soaring across the country. In London, a city of 8 million
people, murder is going on at a record pace. Street robbery, the very
crime that CCTV is supposed to be best at deterring, will reach 50,000
this year.

The problem, one exasperated police source told United Press
International, is that "the TV cameras can't be everywhere. There are
hundreds of thousands of nooks and crannies left, everywhere you look,
and this is where criminals are increasingly operating. And when a
camera shows up, they move elsewhere."

Many of the villains are adapting. Some are targeting luxury cars on
the move so that any view a TV camera gets of them is fleeting at best.
Others conceal their street muggings by grabbing their victims in a
clinch that, on CCTV, looks like nothing more than a romantic hug.

[...]




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