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A senior police officer has said he fears the spread of CCTV cameras is leading to "an Orwellian situation".

Deputy chief constable of Hampshire Ian Readhead said Britain could become a surveillance society with cameras on every street corner.

He told the BBC's Politics Show that CCTV was being used in small towns and villages where crime rates were low.

Mr Readhead also called for the retention of some DNA evidence and the use of speed cameras to be reviewed.

His force area includes the small town of Stockbridge, where parish councillors have spent £10,000 installing CCTV.

Mr Readhead questioned whether the relatively low crime levels justified the expense and intrusion.

'Every street corner?'

"I'm really concerned about what happens to the product of these cameras, and what comes next?" he said.

"If it's in our villages, are we really moving towards an Orwellian situation where cameras are at every street corner?

"And I really don't think that's the kind of country that I want to live in."

There are up to 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain - about one for every 14 people.

The UK also has the world's biggest DNA database, with 3.6 million DNA samples on file.

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What about privacy issues?

Chapters of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) show concern for the prevalence of these traffic cameras. Although they concede that these cameras are in public places, they assert that police officers and transportation officials need to be properly trained when using these cameras so that the images are used properly. The ACLU points out that these cameras could capture gay parades and protest rallies, and the subjects on those videos could theoretically find themselves blackmailed. They suggest that state legislatures need to write clear procedural guidelines and legislation that addresses the how's and why's of using video surveillance, as well as the privacy issues of the subjects' likenesses when they are captured on video.

It is possible to achieve a balance between maintained public and transportation safety, while preserving citizens' privacy rights. In this age of terrorism, video surveillance won't be disappearing since it is necessary to promote and preserve safety for the greater good.

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This is the prison without bars. This is the panopticon, a prison so constructed that the inspector can see each of the prisoners at all times, without being seen. This is a portrait of the accelerating movement by western governments to erect giant, powerful, all-pervading mass surveillance, tracking and control grids that will keep all populations firmly under the baleful and watchful gaze of Big Brother.

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I read that they are setting up a trial run of cameras with speakers attached to them that are constantly monitered. Then if they see people "being naughty" they can tell them to 'stop fighting', 'pick up their litter/cigerrete butt, 'stop litering', 'put out the spliff' etc...

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cowabunga_dude said:

They already introduced the shouting cameras, I saw something about it in a news program. The news reporter drops a peice of paper and a voice from a man monitoring her shouts "pick up that rubbish!"

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Do they have a pipe dream of getting enough guards to one day watch all the cameras?

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A senior police officer has said he fears the spread of CCTV cameras is leading to "an Orwellian situation".

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