CCTV effect: No place to hide

Mumbai: When you wipe the gravy from your mouth after a quick bite in a mall, straighten your clothes before you bow down at a temple, expose all your cavities during a mega-yawn at the airport, swipe your nails clean with a pencil at a bus-stop or stick chewing gum under a train seat, it's a battle won if there's no evidence left behind.
But a flickering red light in a forgotten corner could be ensuring that every move you make is being recorded for keeps. There's no hiding from Closed-Circuit Television Cameras. They are everywhere, from offices and roads to malls and temples.
A pilot with Kingfisher Airlines says that the level of scrutiny in Mumbai is spooky, but it still doesn't come close to the scrutiny in the UK or USA. "Transport security officials there monitor everybody closely in every airport. A passenger is more cautious and conscious about each of his gestures because anything interpreted by them as suspicious could land them in the interrogation cell,'' he says.
He fears that India, too, may be following suit. "There's evidence for every single action and there's a constant fear that some unknown person is looking at you,'' he says.
A vigilance officer at the Mumbai airport says that CCTVs usually help them profile passengers and track suspicious movements inside the terminal building. "If somebody uses his/her mobile too frequently, is restless or looks like s/he is an unusual hurry, they tracked closely till they board the plane,'' he says. The airport vigilance staff, he says, also has a set of plain-clothed officers who merge into the passenger crowds to keep a close eye.
In this mega-reality show, in which Mumbaikars play a part, the audience is just a handful of vigilance officers.
Sometimes, when passengers spot a CCTV, they pose or do a little act in amusement. "People do all sorts of things, it can be very entertaining,'' says an airport security officer.
16/03/09 Mansi Choksi & Chinmayi Shalya/Times of India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Airports Mar 2009