PSIAugust2019a

www.psimagazine.co.uk
EDITORIAL
Changing needs
Two items in this edition of PSI show how
CCTV is meeting the changing needs of the
modern world and thus indicate how much we
could be relying on cameras in the future for
more varied jobs than ever
We’ve reported many times how surveillance cameras can
be used to monitor much more than security but the
definition of security is changing all of the time
especially as there will always be those who are looking for new
ways to easy personal gain at the loss of others.
For example in Panel this month we discuss the use of
cameras in care homes, not just to keep the premises and
residents secure, but to monitor the behaviour of staff - not
something that the cameras would have been installed for. The
initial use was probably to make sure there were no uninvited
guests or to keep an eye on residents in case of a fall or distress.
Today however we have seen a plethora of cases where carers
have been mistreating residents – a particularly ugly state of
affairs as some of the elderly or disabled have not been able to
defend themselves or even report the incident. Given the cost of
care (it is estimated that it costs in excess of £45bn) and the fact
that the average age of the population is rising, the care of the
vulnerable is a growing market and one that is changing.
Technologies such as personal alerts and call points are
essentials in the business but surveillance cameras can play an
increasingly key role in the protection of residents from all types
of potential threat; how that threat is monitored is the subject of
the Panel feature.
The other case in point concerns the rise in the attempts to get
something for free, a phenomenon that appears to take the
opinion that restaurants, bars and hotels are fair game for anyone
who can try and claim some kind of injury through no genuine
fault of the establishment (a bit like the fake tummy bug stories
from package holidays). Highlighted in Off the Wall, a section of
the magazine that usually exposes the daft behaviour of people
captured on camera and shared online for our entertainment, the
footage clearly shows a diner put something into her mouth
before faking a choking episode. As the owner of the pub says: “If
it hadn’t been for the cameras, she would have got away with it”
and would likely have cost the business dear. Again this shows
how surveillance cameras can aid with more than just security and
is another step on from the time when camera footage was used
to debunk fake injury scams on public transport.
These two cases are the polar opposite; one concerns genuine
mistreatment while the other is faked, yet both are being
addressed with surveillance technology originally fitted with
other applications in mind.
Andy Clutton
EDITOR
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