Just in time before they sell it off, I am becoming quite the regular visitor to New Scotland Yard, which I have to say is the ugliest building I have ever seen. Or rather, it’s not that it’s ugly, but it makes no effort to be beautiful. But once inside, that’s not a problem. I was there on July 7 for the Security Institute’s thought-provoking conference on the tenth anniversary of the London bombings, and last month I was in the same room for the bus CCTV awards that I took pictures for, on page 50 and for the organiser Det Chief Insp Mick Neville. I also do weddings for the right price. Will work for food.
But seriously, besides the enjoyable buffet afterwards – although foolishly I had eaten well beforehand, lunching with a security consultant, what a life!? – it was interesting that the Met Police were keen to acknowledge their CCTV partners. You could say that it doesn’t mean very much to hold a ceremony and hand out certificates … except if it’s so little trouble, why do so few organisations actually do it?! One point that did crop up in conversation that I offer to you was this: years ago – in our youth? – when you went on a bus, you could expect to sit on or at least see a seat slashed by a knife, or graffiti, or names or worse etched onto glass. You don’t see any of that now, and yet buses are driver-only. Gone are the On The Buses days of conductors, and if anything the trend is towards public transport – and taxis? – without drivers altogether. Yet criminal damage is no longer the norm on the buses, thanks to CCTV. Bus shelters may be another matter, but the bus operators can at least say with some good cause that they are doing their bit for public safety (and keeping customers happy enough). Note also the USB campaign, featured on page 28, another example besides child sexual exploitation where the authorities, seeking to get public opinion on their side, are looking to act on personal misbehaviour. In an earlier, On The Buses generation, it might have been swept under the carpet or shrugged off or not admitted.
A welcome returner to these pages is Peter Jenkins whose new book Covert Imagery Photography and Video we review on page 74; pictured. I rang him to thank him for sending a copy, and praised it as a book on security that you could leave on your coffee table. It looks good and is of general interest. The bulk of the book is, as the title suggests, taking pictures for surveillance. The same rules apply if you want to take good pictures of a game of sport, or a deer on a hillside, to give two examples of Peter’s photos. I was struck that Peter, a veteran of Northern Ireland – a beautiful part of the world, incidentally – is using his covert surveillance skills to take photos for pleasure.
