In-home Video Surveillance - How it's Viewed

 

Reporting on the 2006 National Crime Victimization Survey, the last one complete enough to analyze, the Associated Press offered the usual caveat about incomplete statistics. "Only about half of violent crimes are reported to authorities by the victims," the report reminds readers.

Less talked about is the second half of that sentence, where it is revealed that "police are more likely to be told about crimes committed by strangers" than by one's neighbors, friends, co-workers - or family. The Survey authors make it clear that such close-to-home crime, against both person and property is exceedingly difficult to quantify.

In-home surveillance

The issue is much more than merely academic for Americans today. People routinely have deliverymen, service people, plumbers, painters and various others going in and out of their homes. And working moms and couples may also have in-home childcare, live-in nannies, extended family and various visitors, too. Just how suspicious should they be of these other folks? What level of in-home surveillance is right?

In Britain, they are finding out what living in a total surveillance state really means. According to BBC News in a February 2008 report by Dominic Casciani, the UK "has some of the world's leading surveillance systems," comprising some 15 million closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras. Over the past decade, they were "rolled out to deter city centre crime," but have now been pressed into service for more sweeping use.

There is now talk of coordinating all the various state databases with the CCTV cameras and real-time tracking of mobile phone use. It is important to recall that the whole movement toward tracking the populace began with the justification that it was private property, and the people's safety, that were the objectives. This argument no longer has currency, and the state no longer feels it necessary to justify, or even explain, its intentions in this regard.

Surveillance in America

Local governments in the U.S. have installed any number of traffic cameras, but neither local nor federal agencies have yet moved to plant networks of "spycams" around the country. Should they try, there would be wailing and gnashing of teeth, as well as plenty of lawsuits, from many points along America's political spectrum. Americans are not quite ready for the "total surveillance state."

Private property owners, on the other hand, are more than ready, and need no one's permission to surveil their own homes and businesses. If you know, as you now do, that the level of in-family and in-home crime is much greater than what is reported, the installing a nanny-cam to keep track of your child's caretaker is in no way an overreaction. If you are considering the installation of a home security system that includes some spycams, don't just mount them in the usual spots that watch over entrances, driveways, backyards, side gates and the garage. You should have several installed in the interior of the home, as well. If you have kids, their rooms should be considered. If you have a living room or den full of electronic gizmos, original art or other valuables, those would be natural targets for in-home surveillance, too.

It does not hurt to advertise the presence of these devices, either. Many burglars are deterred simply by the presence of a decal in the front window, or sign in the front yard, that declares the home to be "protected" - by a local security firm, a Brinks franchise, a surveillance system, the local neighborhood watch or some combination of these. You may wish to advise any live-in help or regular visitors (nannies, neighbors, relatives) that you have installed a home surveillance system.

America is not Europe, and Americans apparently have more spine that our cousins in the UK. Mass surveillance by the government is going to be a hard sell. However, your right to protect your family and your property is still respected here, and there are plenty of qualified security experts to help you install, maintain and use just the amount of protective technology that you need. For the head of the family, this is not just a right to discuss, it is a duty to fulfill.