Over the past thirty years, a proliferation of video surveillance systems have been installed in major centres in a number of Western countries.While some observers view this development as being in the public interest, others believe that it signals a move toward more intrusive forms of policing.
Based on a nationwide investigation of how and why some Canadian cities introduced street monitoring programs between 1981 and 2005, Panoptic Dreams provides much-needed data for this debate. Sean Hier brings to light the governance structures and privacy protection policy frameworks that accompanied the expansion of monitoring initiatives, and he critiques streetscape surveillance policy and design structures. Although surveillance initiatives in each city sprang from a dream – held by concerned citizens, businesspeople, politicians, and police – to establish a crime prevention system of discipline and social control, that dream soon gave way to rationalizations based on the idea that streetscape video surveillance is a crime-solving tool that makes people feel safer.
This definitive study of an important policy initiative not only identifies good practice in surveillance planning, promotion, design, and implementation, it will also foster informed debate about the ethics and utility of streetscape video surveillance in Western democracies.
