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Brake now, my lollipop stick is watching you
Benedict Moore-Bridger23 Feb 2009
LOLLIPOP men and ladies in London are to have spy cameras fitted in their sticks in a move which will reignite the debate about the spread of a "surveillance society".
The £900 sticks, which are being introduced in Hillingdon, are to help the school crossing wardens identify motorists who endanger children by failing to halt or driving aggressively.
The footage - which will also be used to gain images of abusive drivers - will be presented as evidence in court so offenders can be prosecuted.
This new use of video will, however, fuel renewed concern about the number of cameras in London, with tens of thousands thought to be in action.
Official figures from the London Assembly show that councils alone now operate more than 10,000 cameras, while there are also large numbers covering the roads and Tube system that are run by Transport for London. Thousands more are operated by private firms and hundreds are installed on the railways.
Hillingdon council insists the lollipop stick cameras will be used proportionately and are to reduce the tally of about 60 "threatening" incidents at crossing places each month.
It also promises that all footage not needed for potential prosecutions will be destroyed within 24 hours and emphasises its aim is to combat crime, not intrude upon personal privacy.
Keith Burrows, cabinet member for planning and transportation, said: "Motorists need to be made aware that stop really does mean stop and they are committing a criminal offence if they don't. Those who don't stop are putting the lives of children, parents and our patrols in danger."
Andrew Howard, head of road safety at the AA, also backed the new technology: "There may be obvious concerns about the Big Brother state, but anything that deters people from being abusive or threatening their lives, and therefore the lives of children, is a good thing."
Dee Doocey, a Liberal Democrat member of the Metropolitan Police Authority and the London Assembly, said that while she accepted there was a problem with motorists ignoring requests to stop, cameras were used too often and failed to achieve much.
"There can be a place for cameras, but unless they are maintained and the evidence obtained is used to bring offenders to justice, they are useless and this could turn out to be an expensive experiment," she said.
In other recent disputes over the use of cameras, a battle is continuing in Islington over a police bid to ensure the Drapers Arms pub installs CCTV to film arriving and departing customers as a condition of granting it a licence.
Hackney council was criticised by campaign group Liberty after it announced plans to equip environmental enforcement officers with cameras to catch litterbugs.
The rows follow the publication of a report by a cross-party House of Lords committee that warned the expansion of a "surveillance society" risked undermining fundamental freedoms.
The peers said research had shown there are more than four million cameras across the country and claimed the ever-increasing scale of the network could not be justified.
In London, the Liberal Democrats have used official figures, which show there is little or no correlation between the number of cameras in a borough and crime detection rates, to call into question the value of surveillance.
Former Home Secretary David Blunkett, in a speech tomorrow at Essex University, will come out against the Government's plan to set up a database holding details of telephone calls and emails and its proposal to allow public bodies to share personal data with each other.
Reader views (8)
When I was at school, if any parents broke any driving law outside the school, the pupil would get a Saturday Detention.
- John, Wapping, 24/02/2009 09:35
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If you are driving on a public road you should have little expectation of privacy. If you are speeding near a school you should have no privacy at all.
That said, spy cameras on lollipop sticks are a pathetic substitute for proper traffic policing.
- Andrew, Hampton Hill, 23/02/2009 17:17
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When are the Poice going to get a grip, turing a lollypop man into another law enforcement agent what's next getting him to give out ticket while the parents drop their children off.
There is a simple way to catch dangerous motorists, and that is to drive in a unmarked car at 30 miles an hour then once the aggesive drivers try and drive into the back of you for sticking to the legal limit nick em.
Try driving on the motor way sticking to 70 and see how many people charge right up to your back bumper why arn't the Police nicking them.
The answer is the Police will do anything but a proper days work, In all honesty there were good coppers once upon a time most of them have left, as they could they not cope with the way Jack Straw contaminated their rule book with his Marxist slime.
- Stephen Curry, Barnet, 23/02/2009 15:19
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Good. Some of the parents at my kids' school drive appallingly, speeding, double parking so that no-one can see to cross the road, parking on the zigzags and blocking the school entrance. A couple of years ago the lollipop lady was actually assaulted. It's a miracle no one has been killed, although several kids have been run over in the past. They don't care about safety - if you remonstrate with them they'll just tell you to **** off. Maybe the threat of prosecution may make them think twice.
- Lindsay, London, 23/02/2009 14:48
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More money for the council in disguise. If they suggest that all proceeds of the fines people get will go to charity im all for it. Will it happen, of course not. Its another procurement exercise to make the money they all lost in some dodgy Icelandic investment!!!!. Can I have a camera on my car in case the lollipop bloke jumps out as im driving past causing an accident?
- Dc, London, 23/02/2009 14:47
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People who think cameras are improving our lives watch too much telly.
- Neil M., london uk,, 23/02/2009 14:26
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This isn't 'surveillance society', it's progress and common sense. If we have the technology to keep a selfish minority in place, let's use it.
- Martin H. Watson, Teddington, 23/02/2009 13:07
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I have no problem whatsover with abusive and aggresive "drivers" being brought to book by use of this kind of technology.
However local authorities need to remember that this is a two-way street (if you'll pardon the pun), and that the ladies and gentlement doing this, sometimes unpleasant, job need to be adequately trained and monitored.
All too often some of these crossing guards believe that it is their job to actually stop the traffic by means of walking out in front of oncoming vehicles, believing they are safe in their coat, holding out a stick. Their approach to entering the road should be no different to that of anyone attempting to cross the road. Ideally there should be nothing coming when they step out. Their presecence is to simply bring to a halt any traffic that approaches subsequently.
To behave any differently sends out the wrong message to the children they escort across the road, as well as putting themselves in danger.
- Escobar A-Lop-Lop, Camden County, 23/02/2009 12:32
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