'East London Advertiser' aiding ‘Big Brother CCTV Councillor’
AADHIKARonline in association with KHOODEELAAR! No to Crossrail scam | 22.12.2008 12:15 | Repression | Social Struggles
'East London Advertiser' aiding ‘Big Brother CCTV Councillor’ condemning community
By © Muhammad Haque
1212 Hrs GMT
London Monday 22 December 2008
The East London Advertiser has been running an online piece which is reproduced below.
I have just in the past few minutes posted an inline reply to it.
I reproduce the pieces in full below.
First my own comment
"Your online item dated 15 December 2008 is headed in a way that clearly sates that people going about our business are presumed to be guilty of some offence! KHOODEELAAR! campaign members have raised the issue of cctv with Tower Hamlets Council. The response we have so far received from officials directly contradict what you have quoted one councillor to be saying. Also, you must refer to the legal position regarding the use, the control and the agenda behind cctv. What law, for instance, allows even the making of the supposition that is in your online headline? Because if people are presumed to be guilty simply for being out and about then society has been abolished already! Was there a debate on that at the local council? And in the UK parliament? If so when was such a debate held in each place and with what coverage in the East London Advertiser?"
THE E L A online piece:
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/content/towerhamlets/advertiser/news/story.aspx?brand=ELAOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsela&itemid=WeED15%20Dec%202008%2019%3A47%3A50%3A787
Big Brother is watching you—if you’re up to no good
15 December 2008
Mike Brooke
AT LEAST one arrest a day results from a surveillance camera in a street near you.
That makes an average of one for every six cameras operated by Tower Hamlets council on the streets of London’s East End for the month of November, according to figures released today (Monday).
“If you’re up to no good, it’s worth remembering there might just be someone watching you,” said council cabinet member Abdal Ullah. “The cameras are there to keep the law abiding majority safe.”
There are 230 CCTV cameras on the streets of Tower Hamlets with 70 on direct view at any one time.
Operators manning the council’s monitoring centre at Blackwall have been tipping the police if they spot what they think is a crime.
They alerted police to criminal activity which led to 39 arrests during November.
Among the crimes detected were seven assaults, five public order offences, four robberies, four criminal damage offences and three people caught possessing drugs.
The control room opened in 2006 and has been developing since then, with operators now on duty 24 hours a day.
By © Muhammad Haque
1212 Hrs GMT
London Monday 22 December 2008
The East London Advertiser has been running an online piece which is reproduced below.
I have just in the past few minutes posted an inline reply to it.
I reproduce the pieces in full below.
First my own comment
"Your online item dated 15 December 2008 is headed in a way that clearly sates that people going about our business are presumed to be guilty of some offence! KHOODEELAAR! campaign members have raised the issue of cctv with Tower Hamlets Council. The response we have so far received from officials directly contradict what you have quoted one councillor to be saying. Also, you must refer to the legal position regarding the use, the control and the agenda behind cctv. What law, for instance, allows even the making of the supposition that is in your online headline? Because if people are presumed to be guilty simply for being out and about then society has been abolished already! Was there a debate on that at the local council? And in the UK parliament? If so when was such a debate held in each place and with what coverage in the East London Advertiser?"
THE E L A online piece:
http://www.eastlondonadvertiser.co.uk/content/towerhamlets/advertiser/news/story.aspx?brand=ELAOnline&category=news&tBrand=northlondon24&tCategory=newsela&itemid=WeED15%20Dec%202008%2019%3A47%3A50%3A787 Big Brother is watching you—if you’re up to no good
15 December 2008
Mike Brooke
AT LEAST one arrest a day results from a surveillance camera in a street near you.
That makes an average of one for every six cameras operated by Tower Hamlets council on the streets of London’s East End for the month of November, according to figures released today (Monday).
“If you’re up to no good, it’s worth remembering there might just be someone watching you,” said council cabinet member Abdal Ullah. “The cameras are there to keep the law abiding majority safe.”
There are 230 CCTV cameras on the streets of Tower Hamlets with 70 on direct view at any one time.
Operators manning the council’s monitoring centre at Blackwall have been tipping the police if they spot what they think is a crime.
They alerted police to criminal activity which led to 39 arrests during November.
Among the crimes detected were seven assaults, five public order offences, four robberies, four criminal damage offences and three people caught possessing drugs.
The control room opened in 2006 and has been developing since then, with operators now on duty 24 hours a day.
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Comments
Hide the following 3 comments
Press release journalism
22.12.2008 14:19
But the quote, and a bunch of other bits, were all in the original press release, published... oooh.... a week before.
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CCTV Keeps a Close Eye on Crime
11/12/08
Kate Taylor
The latest figures from Tower Hamlets Council’s CCTV control room show that surveillance is helping to cut crime in the borough.
Tower Hamlets Council’s CCTV control room opened in March 2006 and has been developing rapidly since then. CCTV Operators are on duty in the control room 24 hours a day.
There are about 230 street CCTV cameras in the borough and about 70 are on direct view at any one time. Operators will regularly sequence through cameras or areas to ensure a spread of viewing and certain problem areas are monitored more closely than others.
When the operators see what they believe to be criminal activity taking place they immediately alert the police and in November this year, this intelligence resulted in 39 arrests.
Tower Hamlets Council’s Lead Member for Cleaner, Safer, Greener Abdal Ullah said: “Last year the council invested in 35 new CCTV cameras across the borough and figures like this show that they are really effective in detecting crime. Through close working with the police, arrests can then be made helping to keep crime off our streets. The cameras are there to keep the law abiding majority of people safe. But if you’re up to no good it’s worth remembering that there might just be someone watching you.
“The team in the CCTV room work really hard and the cameras are monitored 24 hours a day. I think they should all be really proud of their work in helping to make the borough safer.”
Among the 39 crimes detected by the team which resulted in arrest in November, seven were for assault, five were for public order and affray offences, four were for robbery, four were for criminal damage and three were for the possession of drugs.
Ends
Norville B
Just for the records, how Boris Johnson is indulging in more callous talk
06.01.2009 03:06
AADHIKARonline in association with KHOODEELAAR! No to Crossrail
Slow, modest and safe concern in Parliament on Councils spying
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