Fighting Crime From Above?

According to CNN, 113 surveillance cameras covering 5% of Baghdad were installed to assist in "predicting terrorism". The above video shows the surveillance camera operators watching traffic and failing to identify the motives of the terrorists.  When the operators fail to predict the future, they "cringe with guilt".

The center was set up a year and a half ago, with employees on the lookout for trouble, as police officers in a back room listen to the traffic on their radios. But there are not enough cameras to cover all of Baghdad — only 5 percent of the city is surveilled under the current system.

The cameras picked up suspicious activity last Wednesday, but within 20 seconds — before any action could be taken — a truck blew up in front of the Foreign Ministry building. By day's end, bombings had killed nearly 100 people in the city.

The fledgling security surveillance operation has a long way to go, its director acknowledges. The center is understaffed and not yet open around the clock.

Though overall attacks have decreased in Iraq, the images on screen serve as undeniable evidence of the ongoing violence the Iraqi government is struggling to prevent.

That effort includes 113 security cameras placed mainly around government buildings throughout the city, though not all are functioning at any given time. Each work station at the surveillance center monitors the feeds from 10 cameras.

After last week's bombings — which made Wednesday the bloodiest day in Iraq since U.S. combat troops withdrew from Iraqi cities at the end of June — the center's managers met with Iraqi security forces in an effort to increase the number of cameras.

"We should all admit responsibility for this major breach of security," the director said. "And we have to fix the system."

For now, as the carnage fills the screen like a violent movie, employees cringe with guilt. They know that every time there is a blast on screen, it's because they were not able to prevent it.

Installing surveillance cameras and a command center in Baghdad is a logical thing to do, there is no refuting that.  However, the Baghdad security director should not be making statements correlating the ability to find terrorists on the streets and the need for more cameras.

It is illogical to assume that by installing more surveillance cameras the operators will be in a better position to identify and intervene a potential terrorist act.  It is a proven fact surveillance cameras do not deter violent crime, and conversely, public cameras are extremely poor at convicting criminals.  In this situation, the Baghdad cameras should only be used to determine if any incidents have happened, identify the magnitude of the problem, and dispatch appropriate resources.  The end result can ultimately be efficient dispatching of ambulances, and lives saved.