Britons will never stand for such an Orwellian invasion of their liberties, people would have said.

But it has happened with barely a murmur of dissent. Inverness, like every other town and city, is now ringed by closed circuit television cameras and provided they are working — which crucially they failed to do when banker Alistair Wilson was gunned down on the doorstep of his Nairn home — our every move is watched over.

Of course, so are the activities of thieves, muggers and vandals and there is no doubt that CCTV acts as both a significant deterrent and a useful tool for convicting the guilty when a crime is committed. Just last week Highland councillor Jimmy Gray welcomed the drop in reports of anti-social behaviour in Stephen's Brae following the installation of surveillance cameras a month ago, equipment he campaigned for and which was financed by the Inverness Common Good Fund. Elsewhere in the city residents have lobbied for the CCTV network to be extended out to their areas.

We do not disagree that cameras have a role to play in fighting crime, but wonder whether we are culpable of blindly accepting that they are a good thing and not asking enough questions about this council-funded extension of the surveillance society.

Are they, for instance, the best way of dealing with the problems or just the cheapest? Have the vandals who until last month upset the inhabitants of Stephen's Brae really become law abiding citizens overnight, or are they simply now adding to the scourge of anti-social behaviour in suburbs which are not yet electronically watched over day and night? In the past would not the issue have been addressed by the local bobby speaking to the youths and their parents and the cause of the problem tackled, not just the symptom?

Surveillance cameras are part of a much bigger national picture which has seen personal liberties slowly eroded in the name of security. Terrorist suspects can now be held for 28 days without charge — the longest time in Western Europe; the right to trial by jury has been removed in certain cases; demonstrations are banned within one kilometre of London's Parliament Square; vast amounts of information about us is held on public and private sector databases; and the government is pressing ahead with plans for compulsory national identity cards.

Just like CCTV cameras, a robust case can be made for each of these measures, but taken together they amount to a significant cultural shift which sees individuals increasingly having to justify themselves to the state, and not vice versa, as has historically been the case.

Perhaps most people believe it is a price worth paying for reducing anti-social behaviour and making Stephen's Brae a safer place to be on Saturday nights. But the concern is that while more and more CCTV cameras are being erected around our city, that debate is not taking place.

Printer friendly version

Email this article to a friend