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SALT LAKE CITY -- Video surveillance is becoming simply a fact of life, at the gas station, the grocery store, the bank. In fact, nearly everywhere you go someone is watching. More and more schools are using video cameras to watch our kids. Is this the Big Brother that George Orwell warned us of? Or is it simply schools using available technology to address dropping personnel budgets and rising school violence? The reality is, it may be a bit of both.
Following the 1949 publication of Orwell’s classic novel "Nineteen Eighty-Four," the term "Big Brother" entered the lexicon as a synonym for government abuse of civil liberties, generally related to the use of video surveillance. In the novel, everyone is under surveillance by authorities. Citizens are continually reminded of this with the phrase, "Big Brother is watching you.”
Signs in many places stating “Facility under 24-hour video surveillance” are the modern equivalent. Most of these facilities are privately owned, and the surveillance systems are deployed by the owner to protect the property. Schools, on the other hand, are very much a local governmental entity with the buildings held in trust for the patrons of the school district.
As long as there is no clear consensus about where we draw the line on surveillance to protect American values, public Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) is in danger of evolving into a surveillance monster.
–- The American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union, long concerned about governmental use of video surveillance, notes, “As long as there is no clear consensus about where we draw the line on surveillance to protect American values, public Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) is in danger of evolving into a surveillance monster.”
The expansion of surveillance cameras has troubled some. "We're seeing a whole new wave of video surveillance," Jay Stanley of the ACLU’s Liberty and Technology program told City Limits magazine. "The current wave is the efforts to tie together public and private surveillance, which creates the potential for a pervasive surveillance system to track people from block to block."
The Electronic Privacy Information Center questions the effectiveness of CCTV surveillance as a whole, noting the following: “While the average Londoner is estimated to have their picture recorded more than 300 times a day, no single bomber has been caught. Despite this evidence, in the United States, current anti-terrorist fears, combined with the surge in road rage, the perception of an increase in crime and several high-profile school shootings, are causing many to call for increased video surveillance not only on highways, in schools, public parks and government buildings, but in all public spaces.”
Students in some districts have concerns as well, scolastic.com reports: “When word got out that administrators at the Seaholm and Groves high schools in Oakland County, Mich., were considering installing security cameras, it led students to organize the group Students Against Security Cameras. Its members have attended school board meetings to protest the plan, which they feel would be an unnecessary expense and would promote an atmosphere of distrust in the schools. SASC students even have a Facebook page spelling out their concerns, with more than 850 members so far.”
Ronald D. Stephens, the executive director of the National School Safety Center, an independent nonprofit that focuses on school crime prevention and safe-school planning, told the following to Scholastic's Administr@tor Magazine: “First and foremost, schools have to ask hard questions about what kind of climate they want to create. When they put a four-way camera in the intersection I go through on my way to work every day, I wasn’t pleased about that. It tends to say, ‘Hey, we don’t trust you.’" Stephens said many students feel the same way about cameras in school.
The privacy concerns, issues of civil liberties and altering the educational environment are certainly issues of concern. With the recent anniversary of the Columbine school shooting, school safety and security are equally issues of concern.
The deployment of video surveillance in some school settings has proven effective. Security Magazine says, “When it comes to ensuring safety for schoolchildren, nothing seems to work better than school security cameras. Many school districts have already turned to the use of security surveillance equipment to improve the safety of their schools.”
When it comes to ensuring safety for schoolchildren, nothing seems to work better than school security cameras. Many school districts have already turned to the use of security surveillance equipment to improve the safety of their schools.
–- Security Magazine
The Gloucester Times reports that Principal William Goodwin, in his fourth year at the helm at Gloucester High in Massachusetts, said he has sought to put security cameras in the school since his time as the school's assistant principal. "If there was an incident, it's a lot easier if you have it on camera than trying to investigate than with the he-said, she-said," Goodwin said.
School budgets are stretched to the very limit, and implementing a CCTV system can be costly. The best answer of more adult personnel supervising students in our schools is something that will not happen any time soon for most schools. This makes installation of CCTV systems and routine maintenance of these systems the most cost effective method to increase the number of eyes watching our children.
Schools may actually save money by implementing CCTV systems. Reduced crime within the school may help to reduce insurance premiums, reduce insurance claims and allow the school faculty to focus on its job rather than deterring school violence and crime.
The debate over cameras in our schools is passionate, sometimes heated and will not go away any time soon. The level of deployment, use and policy on CCTV is unique to each school district. For specific information on video surveillance in your schools, contact your local school district.
Guy is a longtime educator, having taught and coached tennis and swimming. He is school safety and security administrator for the Bonneville School District in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Guy has been married for 26 years and has three children.
