What Common Applications of Electronic Monitoring or Surveillance Equipment Are There?
- In its May 2010 coverage of a bomb plot foiled in New York, the "Washington Post" noted there are more than four million surveillance cameras in the public sector in Britain, a quarter of them in London. They are used to monitor public places and exteriors of busy downtown areas. The Massachusetts Probation Service alone monitors about 1,808 probationers and parolees, according to its "Electronic Monitoring Program 2010 Fact Sheet."
- Other common business applications of electronic monitoring or surveillance equipment include using video surveillance and recordings to monitor retail stores to prevent theft, in casinos to detect and prevent cheating and theft; and by law enforcement agencies to detect, document and investigate criminal activity. Residential uses include interior and exterior video monitoring; automated burglary, fire, flood, smoke and carbon-monoxide alarms; remote monitoring of your residence and an elderly parent's residence via Internet webcam; and monitoring of your child's safety with the babysitter.
- Critics of public surveillance cameras say they haven't been worth the money spent, but proponents say they've helped solve a number of high-profile crimes and terrorist attacks.
According to the Massachusetts Probation Service, electronic monitoring programs have provided a less-expensive alternative to incarceration for "selected probationers and parolees."
