Linking public security with technology is the current trend.

In the eyes of the British public, CCTV has become the police’s first port of call and a high-tech crime-fighting tool. In London, the average person can expect to be caught on surveillance video hundreds of times daily, and Britons are accustomed to seeing CCTV footage of suspects and victims in high-profile crimes.

Likewise, Singapore Police Force has a ongoing collaborations with 14 Town Councils will see the deployment of 241 mobile CCTV systems at common public areas of HDB blocks plagued with safety an security concerns. An online mobile phone screening facility utilising the mobile phone’s IMEI number will be made available to the public so that they can perform a “due diligence” check before purchasing used mobile phones.

However, how effective these systems really are?
Do we really think that all of the 13 million CCTV cameras in UK are being watched by forces, that are just waiting for people to inadvertently drop a paper hankie on the street? Or are we worried that we might just get caught after we’ve mugged some poor unfortunate?

For a more direct approach, the South Koreans got it all.

Government agencies introduced “report and reward” schemes that encouraged people to catch their citizens transgressing the law.  This opportunity for extra cash enticed people to sign for courses at the paparazzi schools to learn how to get their ‘preys’ on video.

From tracking a person smoking in prohibited areas, throwing the stub away and locate his car license number to ‘ratting on’ shopping malls that give out plastic bags for free (they are supposed to charge for, under a law aimed at preventing waste), plenty of opportunities are around. There are even ‘Specialists” such as ‘ssu-parazzi” — for those who specialize in catching people illegally throwing away their rubbish.  These ‘trackers’ will then send the evidence to the appropriate state agency, along with the witnesses’ bank details for the rewards.

The effectiveness of this system may be apparent but whether it will last long has yet to seen.  There have been concerns from the agencies however that this bounty-hunter approach might create a new form of business rather than improving the society and rewards have been reduced to prevent that.

Moon Sung-ok (R), president and teacher at a paparazzi school, shows a student how to use a hidden camera during training in a car in Seoul November 15, 2008. 2008.
REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak

Moon Sung-ok (R), president and teacher at a paparazzi school, explains how to obtain rewards to his students during a class in his office in Seoul November 15, 2008. REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak

Moon Sung-ok, president and teacher at a paparazzi school, shows how to use a hidden camera during a class in his office in Seoul November 15, 2008.
REUTERS/Jo Yong-Hak