Europe, U.S. Take U.K. Lead on Surveillance Cameras
Pastor Dale Morgan
Europe, U.S. Take U.K. Lead on Surveillance Cameras*
By JOHN LEICESTER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, July 10, 2007; 5:34 PM
LONDON -- British police quickly closed in on suspects in the failed
bomb plots in London and Scotland _ only the latest terror investigation
to display the crucial role of the country's vast network of
surveillance cameras.
The system is winning converts in the United States and Europe, to the
alarm of some privacy advocates.
In New York, officials have announced plans to outfit hundreds of
Manhattan buses with cameras and add 3,000 motion sensors to subways and
commuter rail facilities. French President Nicolas Sarkozy says he is
contemplating a "vast plan" to install more cameras on public transport.
"I am very impressed by the efficiency of the British police thanks to
this network of cameras," Sarkozy said in an interview published this
weekend in the weekly Le Journal du Dimanche. "In my mind, there is no
contradiction between respecting individual freedoms and the
installation of cameras to protect everyone's security."
Britain has about 4 million closed-circuit security cameras, and police
say the average Briton is on as many as 300 cameras every day.
Video was crucial in catching and prosecuting the four would-be suicide
bombers convicted Monday for plotting to detonate backpacks laden with
explosive charges and shrapnel on public transport on July 21, 2005.
Chilling footage showed one bomber attempting to detonate his charge
facing a mother and young child in a subway. The cameras also captured
moments of heroism, including an off-duty firefighter remonstrating with
the bomber.
In all, police had 18,000 hours of footage available, which was edited
down to seven hours used in the trial. One of the bombers fled London
disguised in a head-to-toe black veil worn by some devout Muslim women _
a getaway also captured on camera.
Police investigating the latest failed attacks have also looked through
hundreds of hours of surveillance footage, including images of both of
the explosive-packed cars found in London on June 29, and one of the
suspected drivers.
The footage apparently helped police track the journeys of the cars and
make the link between the attempts in London and the Jeep that rammed
into a Glasgow airport building the next day.
The trend toward greater use of closed-circuit cameras and other
monitoring technologies worries some in Britain and elsewhere in Europe.
The French state-funded authority that monitors the protection of
privacy and personal data warned this week of a "society of surveillance."
"Technological innovation brings both progress and dangers," Senator
Alex Turk, the authority's president, wrote in its annual report.
"People are tempted by the comfort that it offers, but are barely aware
of the risks."
In Sweden last month, a court rejected the southern city of Malmo's plan
to place 58 surveillance cameras in the downtown area, saying it was too
intrusive.
In Madrid, surveillance cameras vividly recorded train bombings in 2004
that killed 191 people and injured more than 1,800. But the Spanish
capital is being required to seek court approval for its project to
install 31 new cameras to counter prostitution.
The wave of terror plots in Britain in recent years also indicates that
while surveillance cameras may be useful for investigators, they do not
deter bombers determined to take their lives and kill others.
The technology is constantly being honed. Cameras in London photograph
the license plates of cars so drivers can be charged for bringing them
into the town center. But the day when cameras can monitor crowds for
specific people may still be far away.
"It's difficult for a camera to recognize any face in a crowd of people,
let alone a specific one," said David Wood, an expert in video
surveillance at the University of Newcastle in northern England.
Britain was first to pioneer widespread use of closed-circuit cameras in
the 1980s to monitor the movements of Irish Republican Army bombers.
Footage proved instrumental in identifying the paths of massive truck
bombs detonated in the 1990s in London's financial district.
Investigators were able to piece together the attacks from cameras that
picked up the progress of each truck bomb as it made its way on roads in
Northern Ireland, on to vehicle ferries to Scotland, and down motorways
in Britain to their targets.
In Turkey, opposition to security cameras appears to have waned since
they were instrumental in investigating the January murder of ethnic
Armenian journalist Hrant Dink.
Cameras have been installed in Istanbul and a few other cities, and
authorities have announced plans to expand them to other locations and
to vacation resorts to increase tourists' security.
German officials agreed last year to expand the use of video
surveillance at train stations, airports and harbors, after footage
helped police identify two Lebanese men believed to have placed
makeshift bombs aboard trains last summer. The bombs failed to detonate.
Police in Hamburg, Germany, have installed cameras in crime hotspots. A
court ordered that one camera be modified because it pointed into
somebody's flat.
Some 5,000 cameras film the Metro and suburban train network in Paris,
and there are plans to increase that number to 6,540 by the end of the year.
In the Netherlands, one in five towns now use closed-circuit cameras.
The rate rises to four in five in towns with populations bigger than
100,000, the Interior Ministry said.
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Associated Press Writers across Europe contributed to this report.