Emmeline Taylor

I spy with my little eye: the use of CCTV in schools and the impact on privacy

CCTV is widely acknowledged to be ubiquitous in British urban areas. It is therefore not surprising that its use has seeped into institutions such as the school. As such it is important, perhaps more than ever, to be able to attribute an inherent value to privacy and demonstrate that its infringement facilitated by the burgeoning of technological surveillance practices could have potentially serious consequences for society. Drawing upon empirical research conducted in three secondary schools in the United Kingdom, this paper examines the value of privacy as perceived by pupils and the extent to which this is undermined or eradicated by the presence of

Mobile payment technologies in retail: a review of potential benefits and risks

Purpose – Retailers and suppliers are facing the challenge of reconfiguring systems to accommodate increasingly mobile customers expecting multichannel options supporting quick and secure digital payment. The purpose of this paper is to harness the learning from the implementation of self-checkout and combines it with available information relating to mobile scanning and mobile point-of-sale (MPOS). Design/methodology/approach – In review of the literature, the paper provides an overview of different modes of mobile payment systems, and a consideration of some of the benefits that they offer to retailers and their customers. The main focus, drawing upon telephone interviews with retail security professionals in Australia and New Zealand, is on anticipating and mitigating against the potential risks, vulnerabilities and impact on shrinkage. Findings – With the market being flooded with software and products, retailers are exposed to a compelling case for mobile payment, but it was found that they are not a...

Supermarket self-checkouts and retail theft: The curious case of the SWIPERS

When self-service checkout (SCO) first launched in the United States in 1992 there was considerable scepticism and, perhaps not surprisingly, concern that huge losses would follow. Despite conflicting evidence on their impact on shrinkage, and customer theft in particular, consumer-oriented payment systems are an increasingly common feature of the retail environment. This paper reviews how the move to SCO has affected retail theft. Drawing on recent market research surveys suggesting that up to a third of customers regularly steal when using SCO in supermarkets, the paper outlines the aetiology of a new breed of shoplifter, ‘the SWIPERS’, and presents a typology of these offenders.

Honour among thieves? How morality and rationality influence the decision-making processes of convicted domestic burglars

Gaining the offender perspective is central to understanding domestic burglary, and is well documented. This article presents findings from 30 semi-structured interviews with convicted domestic burglars conducted in Greater Manchester, UK. The findings support the dominant supposition that domestic burglars operate within a bounded rationality, broadly calculating reward and risk in the commission of their offences. In addition, it was found that a sense of abstracted morality impacted on decision making. Burglars used cognitive ‘codes of practice’ which influenced target appraisal, shaped modus operandi, guided the search process and impacted on items stolen. The findings suggest that the role of neutralization techniques and morality should be (re)incorporated into the understanding of domestic burglars as rational offenders.

UK schools, CCTV and the Data Protection Act 1998

The use of CCTV in schools is now commonplace in the UK. It is estimated that 85% of all UK secondary schools currently have CCTV systems in operation. The introduction of the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) (enacted in March 2000) meant that for the first time CCTV had direct legislation governing its use in the UK. This paper attempts to apply the decree to the widespread introduction of CCTV technology in schools and argues that the various elements of statute are impractical or inappropriate to educational institutions. The ill‐defined and vague legislation presented in the DPA 1998 provides very little protection to the data subjects in schools (mainly pupils and teachers). In addition, the ubiquity of CCTV in schools in the UK far surpasses the enforcement capabilities and resources of the Information Commissioner’s Office and as such any contravention of the scant provisions of the Act is likely to go unidentified and under‐enforced. In consideration of the DPA, the paper elucidates numerous examples to suggest that a large number of schools are in contravention of the law. The paper outlines the need for bespoke policy to govern and regulate the use of CCTV in schools. Whilst the paper focuses on the case of the UK, it speaks to an international audience in concluding that the use of CCTV and surveillance technologies in schools requires greater scrutiny and regulation.

Ex-armed forces personnel and the criminal justice system:

There is increasing concern that many ex-services personnel end up in the criminal justice system. Hitherto little research has examined the relationship between military service and criminal behaviour, and what limited research has been conducted primarily focuses on serving military personnel committing crimes in times of conflict. The probation service union, Napo, conducted a survey of its members in 2008 to try to ascertain the prevalence of the problem.

CCTV: Reflections on Its Use, Abuse and Effectiveness

It is a pertinent time to reflect upon the use of CCTV. As some areas withdraw funding from their CCTV systems, others are expanding coverage and upgrading to Intelligent CCTV (ICCTV) or ‘smart’ CCTV supplemented with facial recognition and a range of other capabilities. Since the Metropolitan Police first installed CCTV cameras in Trafalgar Square in 1960 (Williams, 2003), CCTV as a crime control measure has become more complex. Indeed, technological developments have increased the array of possible uses but, at the same time, have also raised the number of issues that need to be managed. This chapter aims to chart the challenges facing the effective deployment and integration of CCTV into security responses. It will discuss the prevalence of CCTV, explore the evidence pertaining to whether it ‘works’ as a crime control technology and consider what the future for this much debated and controversial technology might hold. Although much of the research refers to CCTV, we also discuss visual data derived via other types of cameras and consider the rise of ‘sousveillance’ (Mann et al., 2003).

Awareness, understanding and experiences of CCTV amongst teachers and pupils in three UK schools

CCTV research has historically focused on four discrete dimensions: its evaluation , the formulation of metanarrative discourses of surveillance, its operation and the impact on privacy. What has consistently been missing from the research agenda is detailed accounts of how different groups understand and attribute meaning to the use of CCTV, and how experiences of the technology vary by individual, group, and location. This paper seeks to report the views and perceptions of pupils and teachers under visual surveillance in their schools. The findings are organised into three central themes. Firstly, it outlines the level of awareness of CCTV at the schools amongst teachers and pupils. Awareness is inextricably linked with a number of other themes, such as the effect of CCTV upon behaviour, CCTV as a deterrent against criminal activity, and perceptions of the impact of CCTV on privacy, because in order for individuals to conceive of any of these phenomena they must first be aware of the presence of CCTV in their locale. Second, it explores the meaning that the participants attribute to CCTV such as its objectives and the role they perceive it to have in the school. The third and final area of investigation explores the impact and effectiveness of CCTV.1 In other words, what effect is CCTV perceived to have (impact) and does it fulfil the objectives that the participants believed it to have been implemented to achieve (effectiveness)?

Student drug testing and the surveillance school economy: an analysis of media representation and policy transfer in Australian schools

Abstract Anxieties relating to the health, safety and security of schoolchildren have been met with a variety of surveillance apparatus in schools internationally. Drawing on findings from a content analysis of newspaper reports relating to drug testing in Australian schools, this article seeks to excavate the ways in which the media shapes, informs, reflects and instructs narratives pertaining to the use and acceptability of surveillance. Finding that a ‘greater good’ discourse prevails in debates about drug testing in schools, contrary to evidence purporting its ineffectiveness, it is argued that the phenomenon can be explained by the rapidly emerging surveillance school economy whereby education is increasingly exposed to neoliberal corporate priorities and governmental imperatives. Further, finding that policy transfer goes some way to explaining the suggested introduction of random drug testing programs in Australian schools, the article provides critical analysis to understand how surveillance practices come to be activated, understood and negotiated as they cross national boundaries.

‘This is not America’: Cultural mythscapes, media representation and the anatomy of the Surveillance School in Australia

Schools have exhibited a demonstrable predilection for surveillance technologies in recent years. While much attention has been paid to the globalized diffusion of surveillance and security practices, in contrast, the ways in which artefacts of surveillance surface and take root unevenly internationally has not received much scholarly attention. Drawing on the media representation of emergent school surveillance technologies in Australia, this article seeks to illuminate how distinctive cultural dynamics interact with acceptability, reverence and rejection of surveillance apparatus in the educational context. Far from revealing homogeneity in the manifestation of surveillance practices, the findings show that cultural context and specificity are central to understanding the materiality of surveillance apparatus and regimes.