We live in a time of rapid technological advancement.
This shift has resulted in both advantages and disadvantages for this new wave of spying and mass surveillance technology. Tracking devices, imaging devices, and body scans are examples of commonly used surveillance technology. Mass surveillance in the United States dates back to WWI wartime monitoring and censorship of international communications from, to, or through the United States; after the First and Second World Wars, the surveillance continued through programs such as the Black Chamber and Project SHAMROCK (Hadley 1). This paper seeks to discuss the current screening technologies and how to improve them.
Need For Surveillance Technology
Following the September 11th attacks of 2001, domestic and international mass surveillance capabilities escalated far beyond the levels permitted by the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights (Hadley 1). A 2013 New York Times/CBS poll found that 78% of respondents supported the use of surveillance cameras in public places, and authorities tend to point to spectacular successes – for example, crucial images cameras provided of the Boston Marathon bombing suspects or the identification of those responsible for the 2005 London attacks (Schneier 1).
Advantages of Installing Surveillance technology
There are many advantages derived from surveillance of passengers entering US soil from foreign countries all in aim of preventing crime. The most commonly used surveillance technologies used include, body scans, facial identification, documentation shared across Interpol relating to no-fly listing of particular passengers.
Reduce crime rate
This is aimed to monitor the activities of visitors who have entered the US soil. For instance Facial recognition software and body scans are used to investigate and authenticate the passenger entering US soil either by road, air or road. All passengers are scanned to ensure they are ‘clean’ that is, they are not smuggling drugs and dangerous weapons in the country. Facial recognition is used to match the face of the passenger to their passport photo for identification. According to a research carried out by Nieto (45), urban research has shown that in Baltimore and Chicago, cameras were linked to reduced crime, even beyond the areas with camera coverage and thus the cost savings associated with crimes averted through camera systems, Chicago saved the city over four dollars for every dollar spent on the technology.
Boost Police Investigation
As with any technology, the use of cameras is by no means a substitute for good old-fashioned police work (Vigne 1). When passengers are entering US soil from foreign countries they are subjected to camera surveillance which provides further leads in aiding investigations.
However video footage serves as a complement to, but not a replacement for eyewitness evidence in the courtroom (Vigne 1).
Public Monitoring
Technological advances will continue to enhance our ability to monitor public spaces, by extension, technology will continue to aid efforts to prevent crime and apprehend criminals (Vigne 1). Millions of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras are installed in streets and businesses throughout the world with the stated goal of reducing crime and increasing public safety (Maximino 1).
Effectiveness of Surveillance Technology
Public Video Surveillance
If a person does something illegal in plain view (e.g. in front of a video camera), an officer would not need a warrant to search that person to find the incriminating evidence (Nieto 9).
Case Example
‘A person traveling in an automobile on public thoroughfares has no reasonable expectation of privacy in his movements from one place to another. When [an individual] traveled over the public streets he voluntarily conveyed to anyone who wanted to look the fact that he was traveling over particular roads in a particular direction, and the fact of his final destination when he exited from public roads onto private property’ (Hadley 1).
How US Capabilities can be improved
Case Example: university of Maryland
‘The Maryland team has also developed advanced face recognition software that can be combined with their gait recognition technology. This face recognition technology can be used to watch for known terrorists, spies or criminals and help to identify unknown individuals who might turn up repeatedly sensitive locations or who have been present during multiple criminal or terrorist acts. The team recently developed two other recognition technologies that can add to the capabilities of automated video surveillance systems (Chellappa 1).
The Architecture of Mass Suspicion is the SAR database is part of an ever-expanding domestic surveillance system established after 9/11 to gather intelligence on potential terrorist threats (Shamsi 1).
In the past, analog systems dominated the market, providing systems connected by separate coaxial cables that run from individual cameras to a central recording switch (Feit 1). More recently, IP technology has taken over surveillance, reducing the number of cables – especially in systems covering a number of cameras and buildings (Feit 1)
Conclusion
Surveillance cameras are sprouting up in more and more places, forming an ever more powerful tool for solving crimes after they happen. But what about using them to prevent or stop criminal and terrorist acts? This requires that someone, or something, watch these rapidly multiplying Video feeds 24-7 (Burgett 1).
Works Cited
Burgett, Gannon. “There is now a flying surveillance drone for your home.” Digitaltrends. (2016): 1.
Chellappa, Rama. “New Technologies Improve Video Surveillance.” phys.org (2011): 1.
Feit, Justin. “Important considerations for upgrading or installing new security cameras in your facility.” Building Controls (2017): 1.
Hadley, David P. “America’s “Big Brother”: A Century of U.S. Domestic Surveillance.” OSU-EDU (2013): 1.
Maximino, Martin. “The effect of CCTV on public safety: Research roundup.” Journalists Resource (2014): 1.
Nieto, Marcus. “PUBLIC VIDEO SURVEILLANCE: IS IT An EFFECTIVE CRIME PREVENTION.” California Research Bureau, California State Library (2015): 9.
Schneier, Bruce. “What’s Next in Government Surveillance.” The Atlantic (2016): 1.
Shamsi, Hina. “How Surveillance Turns Ordinary People Into Terrorism Suspects.” MotherJones (2014): 1.
Vigne, Nancy G. La. “How Surveillance Cameras Can Help Prevent and Solve Crime.” Urban Institutte- Crime and Justice (2013): 1.
