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UK Officers Wear Brin's True-Vu Lenses
Metropolitan Police officers in Haringey (north London) have a new equipment option: head cameras concealed in their uniform headgear.
(Officer on the beat, camera in the hat)
According to police, the mere presence of the camera acts as a deterrent; high quality digital images are stored in a special utility belt. The images are said to be of good enough quality support a prosecution, or in support of an application for an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO).
According to Haringey councillor Nilgun Canver:
"The new cameras are a fantastic and effective policing tool."We know they work, supply good quality images and are versatile for patrolling football crowds and shopping precincts.
"They can also be used for more intricate work such as dealing with domestic violence or any incident where the photographic evidence will help with a conviction."
I have the feeling I've seen this somewhere before...
In his remarkable 1990 novel Earth, science fiction writer David Brin writes about a surveillance technology that the oldtimers (aka baby boomers) used in most public places. True-Vu goggles were worn rather than conventional sunglasses; everything the True-Vu goggles saw was recorded for later use in court, if necessary:
"Watching, all the time watching... goggle-eye geeks...What brought on Crat's sudden outburst was the sight of yet another babushka, glaring at them from a bench under one of the force-grown shade trees... The very moment they came into view, the old woman laid here wire-knitting aside and fixed them with the bug-eyed, opaque gape of her True-Vu lenses...
(Read more about Brin's Tru-Vu goggles)
The video content was then uploaded to a secure location.
For more British surveillance mania, see
- Trashcan Surveillance - Halt! Who Throws There?
No science fiction writer ever thought of putting spy chips in garbage cans - it takes bureaucrats to do that. - Big Brother Would Like A Word With You
In a dubious zero-tolerance policy toward unwanted behavior, Britain lets Big Brother do the talking. - Spy Cameras Watch Spy Cameras In UK
In Britain, home of 1984, surveillance cameras are under surveillance by - surveillance cameras.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 11/23/2006)
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