Security cameras on college campuses have just recently started becoming a major priority. They help protect students in a plethora of ways and although the intentions of cameras is for the good of the students, some suggest that they are an invasion of privacy. With cameras, the school has the ability to find where a student is keep track of a students’ whereabouts. This could very beneficial in the case of a missing student or if someone committed a crime. Because of a camera, the school would be able to figure what happened during the event. Overall the effect of security cameras can ultimately be a good thing because they are needed to protect the students from intruders and from making the wrong decisions. Although students do not have a say so in security camera usage, they are needed in every college campus.
Security Today posted an article titled “Safer More Secure Campuses” which talks about the pros of having security cameras on College Campuses. The article goes over the main aspects of cameras and how they can attain a more safer campus with less incidents. During after hours, night time, there is more likely for a crime to occur or property to be vandalize. This is where the article talks about how cameras can be set up to stop criminals and how it can catch them in the act. Parking lots are also a major crime scene during night time. On campuses where there are no cameras in the parking lot, there is room for anything to happen. So when they are implemented, they provide a greater peace of mind for students, faculty and staff, monitor visitors, deliveries and other authorized but nonaccompanied traffic, and provides a record of all activity in the event of a security breach or emergency. In the hallways, cameras can discourage bad student behavior and in the event of an emergency, the camera can provide the exact whereabouts of students, staff and faculty. “Cameras’ wide-angle lenses, high megapixel resolution, audio capabilities—while live listening—and motorized PTZ provide essential versatility and the level of detail needed for critical monitoring and identification.”
Security Cameras are a must for student protection. They are put together and decided by the school officials whose job is to make sure the campus is safe for everyone. “Technology has increased the efficiency of our daily lives,” (‘An absolute prerequisite’:The importance of user privacy and trust in maintaining academic freedom at the library) which has sparked the use of more security cameras. Because of the expansion of technology, we are able to track people’s whereabouts and capture instances on cameras, such as a robbery taking place or a student getting bullied. The cameras are all connected to a giant computer where all the footage is received on. They don’t go as to put them in bathrooms or dorm rooms, because that would be an invasion of privacy. They do however have them all around dorms, so there is no illegal smuggling in people and/or drugs. This is only so the students behave and follow the rules. If it became public that a school had kids smuggling in drugs or alcohol and they were getting away with it, parents would then think that the college was not safe enough for their kid. This is where security cameras come in. They help steer students in the right direction.
The push for security cameras did not come until the tragic events at Columbine High School. Fortunately, cameras were already installed in the school so capture what happened. After Columbine, America realized that we aren’t going to be always safe. More and more high schools and college started to implement security cameras into our everyday lives only for our safety. Although there are still incidents regarding school shootings and intruders, with cameras, we are able to capture video evidence of the incidents giving us incite on ways to prevent things like that from happening again. In the scholarly article about privacy and surveillance called “ ‘An absolute prerequisite’: The importance of user privacy and trust in maintaining academic freedom at the library”, the Information Commissioner’s Office had a say so in video privacy. The article states, “The Commissioner identifies a trend towards synthesis of information, in ‘joined-up’ government and elsewhere; he recognizes a proven value to business of knowing about customer preferences and habits..