Bring On The Surveillance State!

I know that our Privacy Commissioner is very concerned about the use of closed-circuit TV (CCTV) for monitoring the public due to privacy concerns, but I have recently been convinced that public safety trumps the right to privacy.

About two weeks ago, we awoke in the middle of the night to a deep booming sound which repeated four times before falling silent, sort of like the goblin drums in Khazad-dûm (aka the Mines of Moria - LOTR). The noise shook the house itself and sounded like someone trying to kick in a door. I ran out to check on our house and our neighbour's but there was no sign of anyone or anything. However when I ventured around the corner of the street, I noticed that the glass in our bus shelter had been shattered. The booming sound came from the blows on the glass.

This past weekend 5 bus shelters on Orleans Boulevard were smashed in a similar manner.

Also on the same stretch of road last week, a teenager street racing, hit the curb on a curve in the road at estimated speeds of 100 km/hr, hit newspaper boxes and sent them flying through another bus shelter, hit a set of group mailboxes before finally hitting a concrete barrier with the car, sending shards flying through the back yard of the house behind the barrier. Fortunately no one was in the yard at the time. The driver and his passenger also lived to tell the tale. So much for Darwin.

We frequently hear cars racing down the "main drag" outside our house which has a posted speed limit of 40km/hr in the middle of the night. Frequently you can tell that they haven't stopped for the stop sign on the nearby corner.

Perhaps it is time with this kind of rampant lawlessness, to use surveillance to identify the villains and to protect the public and taxpayer from the costs.