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Stop the press: man in dressing gown caught on CCTV!

Gown99 At Big Brother Watch, we've long sought to draw the public's attention to the numerous ways in which public CCTV cameras can be abused by operators for dubious and unpleasant purposes.  Only last week, we highlighted the case of James Tuff, a security guard working for the Dynamic Earth tourist attraction in Edinburgh who was revealed to have abused his position in order to spy on members of the public and colleagues.

Well, over in Hertfordshire, they don't appear to be using CCTV for quite such sinister purposes; indeed, the Stevenage Council's 'Camera Shy' newsletter contained the following story last month:

Late Night Shopping

Around one o’clock in the morning controllers were asked to locate a male person wearing a dressing gown reported to be walking through Hertford Town Centre.

The person was located walking along Maidenhead Street and onwards towards Birchley Green where he was stopped by a police unit who checked the man’s story.

Apparently, he was on his way to Tesco's to do some “late night” shopping, and so he was allowed to continue his journey. Controllers monitored the rather eccentrically dressed gentleman until he disappeared into the entrance of Tesco's Supermarket.

Now don't get me wrong; I do think it's extremely odd for someone to wish to go shopping in a dressing gown in the early hours of the morning.  Does it not, however, speak volumes about the overall effectiveness of their CCTV network that the council feel the crow about this particular case in a magazine designed to promote the "success" of the Hertfordshire TV Partnership?

Posted on March 23, 2011 by Big Brother Watch Posted in CCTV
  • guy herbert

    It is also a bit concerning that it is reported so matter of factly that a police unit stopped him to ‘check his story’ and then were in a position to ‘allow him to continue his journey’. What power does Herefordshire CC suppose they have to prevent him? If you are not committing a crime and they have no reasonable suspicion that you might have done, police have *no* general power to detain you.
    Other than politely enquiring whether the man required assistance, I should hope that police would have no need or desire to check his story in such circumstances. Unusual behaviour is not in itself any ground for police to interfere with someone’s going about their lawful business.

  • Purlieu

    Was it Arthur Dent ?

  • Richard Craven

    @G.Herbert
    Well said. Moreover, what business did they think they had to continue monitoring him after the police had completed their unnecessary dealings with him? And then to publish their invasion of his privacy, and in so doing further invade it?

  • janets

    To be fair, the person might have been a confused dementia sufferer who needed help. I hate the intrusive surveillance society, but in this instance I must reluctantly admit that it could have been beneficial.

  • Purlieu

    Sure that might have been the case, as we know anyone in a dressing gown at night could be a dementia case, however he surely did not need to be “allowed” to continue his journey after having his “story checked”. What’s that all about ?
    What was the alternative – arrest him for being unusually dressed ? Good job he wasn’t wearing a loud shirt in a built up area at night.

  • Richard Craven

    Purlieu is right. He should have told the police that he did not feel like having his story checked, and then ordered them to stop the cctv operators to filming him.

  • Winston Smith

    @ Richard Craven
    I quite agree. Since they did continue monitoring him, I wonder what they would have done if he had not gone into Tesco. It would no doubt have promptly led to further checking.

  • http://mikecunningham.wordpress.com/ Mike Cunningham

    @Purlieu.
    He probably would have been reported to the Hertfordshire Style Police for wanton disregard of the policy regarding no trainers with a dressing gown!

  • startledcod

    ‘Apparently, he was on his way to Tesco’s to do some “late night” shopping’. Why the need for inverted commas around ‘late night’. A bit sinister.

  • Purlieu

    tesco and nightwearin a news item again.
    Remember this
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/8484116.stm

  • Richard Craven

    @janet
    You said this:-
    “To be fair, the person might have been a confused dementia sufferer who needed help. I hate the intrusive surveillance society, but in this instance I must reluctantly admit that it could have been beneficial.”
    I think Guy Herbert’s comment reproduced below answers your point:-
    “Other than politely enquiring whether the man required assistance, I should hope that police would have no need or desire to check his story in such circumstances.”

  • janets

    Hi Richard, thanks for the reply. I completely agree with Guy’s comment, and Purlieu’s as well; I was only making the point that the surveillance enabled the police to find the man and ask whether he needed help. If he had needed help, that would have been a good thing, but since he didn’t, the rest of it was unacceptable.

  • Richard Craven

    Fair enough, Janet.