Moseley Forum

Dear Moseley Residents,

The purpose of this consultation exercise is NOT to determine the following:

- whether or not CCTV cameras are needed in Moseley
- whether or not CCTV cameras are effective

The purpose is to confirm the level of public support for CCTV - anticipated to be over 90 per cent -according to Cllr. Martin Mullaney, the chief advocate for CCTV in Moseley.

The (draft) questionnaire states:

"Local traders and some residents have previously expressed an interest in the installation of CCTV in Moseley Village to IMPROVE SECURITY for traders and visitors to the area [...] and funding of up to £100,000 has been identified [...]. The funding would allow up to 4 (possibly 5) cameras to be installed along the High Street including one in the Moseley Village Car Park." (my capitalisation)

The questionnaire is not about CCTV: it is a survey of people's 'perceptions' and beliefs. The questions relate to your perceptions about crime and your fear of crime, and whether you 'believe' CCTV will reduce this. Other than the vague reference to 'security', it makes no claims about the benefits of CCTV: instead you are asked to simply 'imagine' the benefits. You will be asked if you would 'feel' safer with CCTV cameras in the village. The benefits therefore, are largely imaginary - otherwise they would be stated.

Forty-four separate studies have shown that CCTV does not work in achieving its stated aim. Not one of them concludes that CCTV is effective. Yet this massively contradicts the widespread and popular belief that CCTV works. That's why you will be asked whether you 'believe' CCTV will reduce crime and improve safety, because perceptions can't be wrong: if you 'believe' it works, then that's good enough. Whether it actually works or not has become irrelevant. Therefore the question you should ask yourself is this:

If CCTV did NOT work (in reducing crime and improving safety) would you still want it?

When asked this pertinent question, most people say "No."

If you find this surprising, or are curious to find out more, please watch this video clip (in two parts):

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOuW5dTXJ30
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2qrUl8LJCQ&feature=related

'Better community reduces crime, technology does not.'

Yours faithfully,
Steve Jolly.

The following statement is taken from a House of Lords debate last year on the subject of surveillance, arising from a report by the Constitution Committee. The following points were put forward by Lord Preston (19th June 2009). He makes a very important point that I am hoping others wil take into consideration before automatically backing the CCTV proposal:

On CCTV, Lord Preston says:

"In terms of reducing crime there are mixed results ... there was some quite good indication that it reduces the public's fear of crime. If you look at where most of the pressure is for CCTV in the community, the vast majority of it comes from the public who actually want it ... "

This, he says, presents a dilemma:

‎"If the public want these CCTV cameras—and my ad hoc experience is that that is true—what is the correct response that those of us in public life, not least the Government, should give? Should we say, "If it is what they want, then it is what they ought to have even though it is not backed by any evidence at all"? Or is it our duty to educate them and tell them that they are wrong? [...] I certainly believe that if all CCTV cameras do is reassure you when you should not regard them as doing so, then someone ought to say to you, "Why don't you think about it a little bit and realise that you are mistaken?" (Lord Preston, 19th June 2009)

The full text can be found on the official Hansard record or via the link below.
Source: http://www.theyworkforyou.com/lords/?gid=2009-06-19a.1295.0

In other words, the British public is happy to trade everyone's privacy and individual liberty for what is merely an imagined or perceived benefit; not a demonstrably proven reduction in crime, just the "fear of crime." Is it right then, that our elected members should allow themselves and their policies to be influenced by popular opinion, even when that opinion is little more than a mass delusion, a mistaken and erroneous assumption?

I believe that those wishing to install surveillance cameras in our communities should go further than simply seeking the backing of an ill-informed majority, and that certain other conditions should also be met, namely:

i) Prove that it works: explain exactly how it will reduce crime and anti-social behavior and help apprehend those committing crime, by providing evidence-based case for its effectiveness in the specific situation or application being considered.

ii) Prove that there is a sufficient crime problem in a particular area (e.g. Moseley) to warrant these extra measures - of which CCTV and other cameras may be one of the options, but should never be the only option.

This, to me, does not seem to be an unreasonable request or expectation, given the implications of where the expansion of surveillance could ultimately lead. As Lord Preston concludes,

"We are already in the surveillance society. I very much hope that it is not irreversible."

I did send this information to one of my local councillors months ago but he dismissed it, saying that he 'believes' CCTV does reduce crime and improve safety. Regretably, he was too busy to research the issue any further.

I have just completed the online questionnaire but I have to report a fault in it. It seems that on the section which asks "how safe do you feel in Moseley Village"? it will not allow you to click the same answer for "daytime" and "nighttime". I clicked the "radio button" for "very safe" for daytime, but when I also clicked on "very safe" for nighttime it unclicked the previous daytime one! Therefore the software forced me to give an answer which did not reflect my real opinion. I think the questionnaire needs to be run again once this bug has been fixed, if the answers matter to the people running the survey.

You can see the video of the meeting, in two parts, via a link on the Facebook site:
Birmingham Spy Cameras - NO THANKS!
Part 1 was posted on Thursday at 23:55 and part 2 on Friday at 00:36

This consultation is totally flawed and must be against all guideline from HM Government and Birmingham City Council for such public consultations.

The whole thing is an amateurish attempt at a public consultation and seems to be designed to get the result that the proposers wanted and is a complete sham.