NO CCTV

Three CCTV cameras have been installed on the Cowley Road, East Oxford. The surveillance cameras were officially switched on at a launch event which was simply an opportunity for supporters of state surveillance to gloat and serve up propaganda to local media. Traders, landlords, the police, local MP Andrew Smith and Labour Councillor Malik were on hand to tell reporters that the cameras will make the world a better place.

Andrew Smith told reporters that he had surveyed residents and they were three to one in favour of cameras along the Cowley Road. No CCTV discredited Smith's so called survey back in November of 2007 (see the No CCTV report on the scheme).

Jan Bartlett of Premier Letting agency, who the Oxford Mail have trotted out on a regular basis to sell CCTV to Oxford residents, was wetting her pants with joy at the introduction of the privacy busting paraphernalia at the tax payers expense. It was interesting that most if not all of the traders and landlords attending the launch to big up CCTV were not local residents. Is it fair that local tax payers fund cameras for local traders who mistakenly believe that it will protect their property?

The decision whether or not to install cameras was surreptitiously taken away from the East Area Parliament back in April and given to the Oxford Safer Communities partnership, a quango set up under the Crime and Disorder Act 1998. Taking the decision away from any open and democratic arena was a sneaky way to hamper our campaign against the cameras. We did however achieve something nonetheless as the original plan that we campaigned against was for eight fixed cameras along the Cowley Road - the scheme is now three wireless cameras installed for a two year trial.

We will continue to oppose the cameras and must ensure that the trial is conducted even handedly. If it is, then it will show that CCTV has no effect on reducing crime and should be taken down. We must also continue to educate the public as to both the dangers and ineffectiveness of blanket surveillance. We must not allow the installation of these cameras to go unchallenged, otherwise the police will simply seek to install more.

On Wednesday (23rd April) the Oxford East Area Parliament once again discussed proposals for CCTV on the Cowley Road. The committee was presented with a report of the East Area Parliament CCTV subgroup as well as a report prepared by Optimum Security Services Ltd entitled “Cowley Road Report and Budgetary Costings for 4 Cameras”.

No CCTV spoke at the meeting and later issued a press release summarising their response to the latest developments. Points raised include:

• * The proposed four camera scheme put to the meeting had many similarities with the plan prepared by Optimum Security in November 2006 - most notably all cameras being in line of sight of each other. This would allow people to be tracked all the way along the Cowley Road.
• * No mention was made in the progress report of a one year trial of the cameras which was previously agreed as a condition of installation. The councillors therefore delayed their final decision until it was agreed that cameras would only be installed on a trial basis.
• * Since our Interim Report into the proposals for CCTV on the Cowley Road was published in November 2007 even more evidence has come to light that shows that CCTV is not an effective crime-fighting tool. Sources of this new evidence include the two ongoing parliamentary inquiries into surveillance in the UK.
• * The Progress Report states that there are no safety concerns in relation to the wireless camera technology. The report’s authors base this position on a May 2006 document produced by the World Health Organisation. However, in April 2007 the national press reported serious concerns about wi-fi safety and in May 2007 these concerns were echoed by BBC’s Panorama. Clearly more work is needed to assess the health implications of this technology. In reaching its conclusion, the council is at best guilty of shoddy research.

We urge the East Area Parliament to reject all plans to install CCTV on the Cowley Road.

Read our full press release at www.no-cctv.org.uk/press.

Better community reduces crime, technology does not.

The Oxford Mail reports that newly released police figures show crime in the Cowley area is falling, with an almost 20% drop in violent crime. Contrary to scaremongering in the local media by the police, the Cowley Road is not crime ridden and these figures confirm once again that there is no need to install cameras. It’s about time the local council woke up and did the sensible thing - scrap the scheme now!

No cctv will be at the Oxford Radical Forum, Wadham College, Oxford from Friday 29th Feb to Sunday 2nd March. Drop by for a chat. See http://www.oxfordradicalforum.com for more information