March 1, 2007
CCTV System Catches Grocery Store Thief
Preston, UK-A disabled woman has been charged with purse theft after a grocery store's CCTV system recorded her snatching the purse of an elderly woman off the floor. When confronted about the theft, Dierdre McCue, 47, admitted to the theft right away and pleaded guilty to her charges - one count of theft. This story seems commonplace, and it is for the UK where surveillance cameras are everywhere, but it's worthy to note how easily this crime was solved. Can Ms. McCue's penitence be traced to the presence of surveillance cameras, and the recording of the crime on tape, or to her guilt?
Proponents of video surveillance claim that theft prevention and crime solving are its biggest benefits - that visible cameras have a psychological effect on potential thieves which lowers the possibility of theft, and that their presence makes it easy to charge criminals with compelling evidence like Ms. McCue's crime on tape.
This is a textbook example - Ms. McCue readily confessed to her crime when she found out it was all recorded on tape. Is this the future of video surveillance?
Posted by Jennifer on March 1, 2007 4:18 PM | Comments (0)
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