EDITORIAL - CCTV cameras

Authorities investigating the recent ambush killing of lawyer Noel Archival are pinning their hope of capturing, or at least identifying, his killers on the possibility that they may have been caught on some cctv camera somewhere.

It is too early to pass judgment on the investigation, but let it be said outright that there is nothing better than good old fashioned sleuthing. For while science and technology offers tremendous advantages in criminal investigations, not every modern advance measures up to its lofty billing.

For instance, while cctv cameras are indeed reliable in capturing criminal activity in action, and thus help in the identification of those involved, more often than not there is too little to proceed from there. In most cases, police files end with the end of the tape.

Almost all morning news programs on tv feature a segment about activities, mostly crimes, that have been caught on cctv. On any given day, there must be dozens of such episodes featured. But those who follow these programs religiously will swear they have yet to hear of any successful followups to these crimes.

In other words, for the authorities investigating the Archival murder to suggest that the investigation could use a great deal of help from cctv cameras in the off chance some of them may have captured something related to the case is to say the investigation is in for the long haul indeed.

And that is to say it nicely. For the truth of the matter is, cctv cameras have yet to prove they can contribute substantially to the successful pursuit of any criminal investigation. The sad part of it is that it is not even the fault of the cctv.

The function of a cctv camera is just to capture a visual scene. And in that it has proven reliable. The problem is, the cctv has been aggressively marketed as an anti-crime device, resulting in the brain-washing of people into believing it can solve crimes. The cctv cannot. It is only the police that can.

Criminals themselves have long proven this point. In most of the crimes captured on cctv, the criminals make no conscious effort to hide their faces and identifies. Not that they could not have known they are being filmed since, as we said, cctv cameras are being aggressively marketed and are now almost everywhere.

Criminals make no effort to hide despite knowing they are being filmed because they know it is real police legwork that matters, not the tape. The cctv will only do what it is programmed to do. It is the human investigator who needs to shake a leg and go the extra mile in order to solve a crime.