Reconciling the right to security and to protection of one’s private life: urban CCTV
Video surveillance is on the rise, ever since the events of September 11th 2001 prioritised Security as a core issue on many agenda’s. Now that the initial emotions have lessened, cities have begun to question themselves as so the pertinence this technology in preventive actions, its effectiveness and also the advantages and disadvantages ensuing from its use. The project ‘Citizens, Cities and Video Surveillance’ considers these questions, and identifies good practices.
Reconciliation of security and freedoms is far from evident
CCTV surveillance needs to strike a good balance between the intimacy that citizens need to give up, and the benefits they can obtain from video surveillance. The project aimed at providing cities with the necessary knowledge and tools for setting up an integrated security policy in which social realities and freedoms are taken into account as well. Based on the inputs from 12 cities, among which Rotterdam, Sussex, Brno, London, Lyon and Liège, seven main principles for consideration have been identified:
- The principle of legality;
- The principle of necessity;
- The principle of proportionality;
- The principle of transparency;
- The principle of accountability;
- The principle of independent oversight;
- The principle of citizens’ involvement.
The recommendations and types of actions that can be developed in
order to ensure each principle are outlined in the Charter for a
Democratic Use of Video Surveillance, which you can access through
the Reference Material added to this article.
Cities helping Cities
The report Citizens, Cities and Video Surveillance explores the questions that might arise when developing adequate security measures. It furthermore provides policy makers in the field of security with valuable, detailed case-studies from 12 cities, which can provide inspiration for new security systems.
Towards a common sign language for video surveillance in Europe
A final thread of the project was to consider a common sign
language for indicating the use of video surveillance. The
Parliamentary Assembly from the Council of Europe has called for
the creation of such a language, which would be accessible even to
those unfamiliar with the local language. This report discusses
several traits of this signage, of which an example has been
included below. Importantly, the word ‘video’ should feature in
order to contribute to greater transparency, as this word is known
in all European languages.
Document type
Practice document
Publication date
June 2010
Contact
European Forum for Urban Security
Telephone: 0033 (0) 1 40 64 49 00
E-mail: contact@efus.eu
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