CCTV cameras linked to the power of the internet have become essential in the fight against crime worldwide. This is especially so in South Africa, where a police service riddled with corruption and hobbled by poor management has proved ineffective in staunching criminality.
Which is why the move by the City of Johannesburg to introduce a bylaw to regulate cameras owned by homes and businesses is counterproductive to encouraging citizens to help fight crime in our neighbourhoods. The effect of the proposed legislation is likely to put hurdles in the path of civilian attempts to combat crime.
Among other things, the new regulations prohibit citizens from sharing footage of public spaces with anyone other than the police. Cape Town has also moved to ensure household CCTV cameras are registered, but without insisting the public be kept at arm’s length from the fight against crime.
All means to fight criminality should be embraced, rather than discouraged by meddlesome laws that are neither rational nor in the public interest.
In the same week that this newspaper first brought to public attention the city’s apparent underhandedness in promulgating the bylaw, another story in the paper unequivocally showed how harmful the initiative is.
A routine bumper-bashing incident turned nasty when one driver viciously attacked another. However, the entire incident was captured on video by a third motorist, who posted it online, which helped to identify the attacker.
This is not to suggest homeowners should routinely double as part-time sleuths or wannabe vigilantes, but the dictum that the public are the eyes and ears of the police is apt here.
The police’s record in hunting down criminals is not good, so CCTV footage of crimes would likely gather dust in a forgotten corner of a derelict police station if it was given only to the authorities.
If the SAPS and the city are committed to bringing down the crime rate in co-operation with those who lose most to criminal elements, this provision in the bylaw must be dumped.
Hiding the truth, ostensibly to protect citizens’ personal information, must not be allowed. All means to fight criminality should be embraced, rather than discouraged by meddlesome laws that are neither rational nor in the public interest.
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