The Role of Surveillance


In the technological age we are at, it is no surprise that technology has the ability to influence the portrayal of crime and its victims. As mentioned in a previous blog, CCTV surveillance can be used for the good, by police in investigations of criminals. Alternative footage, in this case mobile phone camera footage, is surfacing increasingly when media agencies report on crimes.

In his discussion of the panoptican, Foucault (1977) pointed out the disciplinary possibility of surveillance:

“The perfect discipline apparatus would make it possible for a single gaze to see everything constantly. A central point would be both the source of light illuminating everything and a locus of convergence for everything that must be known: a perfect eye that nothing would escape and a centre towards which all gazes would be turned.”

Foucault probably had no idea that his words would become so applicable to modern-day technology. The mobile phone is virtually Foucault’s ‘perfect eye’; they are always at ones disposal and, when camera footage is released, ‘all gazes would be turned’. With the creation of mobile phones has come the demise of privacy.

Many crimes have been captured on footage; Jamie Bulger’s abduction, Jill Dando’s last moments, even Rodney King’s beating by police (Marsh & Melville, 2009). A recent case involving the death of a NRL fan has inundated the news with mobile phone footage of the incident. St George Illawarra fan Steven Bosevski died at the leagues club on October 4th, the morning after the NRL grand final (ABC News, October 4). Mobile phone footage has implicated police, capturing four officers beating the victim.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xsao67d2IAA

This link shows a broadcast by ABC News, presenting the phone camera footage.
The story remains unclear as to what occurred that morning; witnesses claim police used excessive force, including capsicum spray and batons, while the police are alleging that the victim attacked an officer with a bottle. The verdict is still not clear yet; the police have formed a critical incident team to investigate.

This recent event is just an example of how technology such as mobile phones has come to affect crime, both in its implication of police in crimes, and in its representations of victims to the public.


References

ABC News, October 4 2010.

Foucault, M 1977, Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison, Allen Lane, London.

Marsh, I & Melville, G 2009, Crime, Justice and the Media’, Routledge, New York.

Minus, J 2010 ‘Police Used Excessive Force, Bosevski Brothers Say’, The Australian, Monday October 4.