West Midlands Police appoints fox to review CCTV chicken coop
- 14/7/2010
The announcement by West Midlands Police of a so-called “independent review” of Project Champion [1] shows a complete lack of understanding of what an independent review is. In what way is the Vice Chair of the body that funded the ill conceived CCTV scheme “independent”?
Project Champion is a controversial network of Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) and CCTV cameras east of Birmingham city centre. The project was financed by the Association of Chief Police Officers Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee (ACPO – TAM).
The “independent review” will be carried out by the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Sara Thornton, who just happens to be Vice Chair of the Association of Chief Police Officers Terrorism and Allied Matters Committee (ACPO – TAM) [2].
The involvement of ACPO in the roll-out of cameras around Birmingham and throughout Britain is a worrying state of affairs. ACPO has become the political wing of the police and when the police lobby, initiate policy and make decisions without recourse to the people they should serve then we are living in a Police State. ACPO should be abolished and their dodgy cameras taken down now!
There is a campaign against the Project Champion cameras in Birmingham, see http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/campaigns/moseley_anti_anpr.asp
Endnotes:
- [ 1] 'Review announced of Project Champion', Press Release 13/7/10 - http://www.west-midlands.police.uk/latest-news/press-release.asp?id=1798
- [ 2] Thames Valley Police website About us, Chief Constable Sara Thornton page - http://www.thamesvalley.police.uk/aboutus/aboutus-ccmt/aboutus-ccmt-cc.htm
Posted in cctv general - 14/7/2010
