by John Tyler

Created on: December 11, 2009

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) in Public Education

Introduction

Over the last century our country, and the developed world as a whole, has seen a growth in the use of surveillance technology. The publishing of George Orwell’s book 1984, in 1949, has been a great tool to popularize a fear of surveillance and easy rhetoric to respond to its usage. Despite the Orwellian “Big Brother” cries for personal privacy, the use of surveillance technology has continued to increase with the tracking of medical records, the use of cell phones, internet data mining tools along with hundreds of other methods and examples. I will address the question of whether or not CCTV is for our security, what other reasons it is used, and by examining schools will seek to determine its effectiveness. 

The use of closed circuit television began in the 1950’s. Since the 1950’s, advancements in technology have made the use of CCTV move from “concept to reality” (The Siemon Company, 2009). As closed circuit television has become more technologically feasible, and thereby more financially possible, its usage has spread everywhere from banks to gas stations. One noteworthy example that helps us understand how the technology has spread is the use of closed circuit television in public schools. In this paper I will discuss the politicization of security in public schools and the expansion of CCTV, the reasons for using CCTV and the perceived benefits, the known effectiveness of closed circuit television in other settings, and look at individual case studies that show successes and problems concerning camera surveillance in schools. Finally, I will conclude by stating some of the problems that need to be resolved as we move into the future of CCTV in public schools.

The Politicization of School Security

Throughout the last decade the use of cameras in public schools has boomed. CCTV is now the second most used security method next to locks on doors and sign in sheets (Nieto, Johnston-Dodds, & Simmons, 2002, p. 1). This spread has not been isolated to school districts; in 1997, the same research study found that “only 13 city police departments in the country used CCTV,” we now know that virtually every police station utilizes CCTV systems (Nieto, Johnston-Dodds, & Simmons, 2002, p. 1). The declining cost of installation due to advances in the technology and a few key national security issues have led to the increase in usage

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