Panoptic Dreams: Streetscape Video Surveillance in Canada

The past few decades have seen a proliferation of video surveillance systems in major centres in a number of Western countries. Is this development in the public interest, or does it signal a move toward more intrusive forms of policing? This book provides much-needed data for this debate as it explores how and why some Canadian cities introduced street surveillance programs between 1981 and 2005, and it brings to light the governance structures and privacy protection policy frameworks that made these programs possible. Although surveillance initiatives sprang from a dream to establish a crime-prevention system of discipline and social control, that dream soon gave way to rationalizations based on the idea that streetscape video surveillance is a crime-solving tool that makes people feel safer. Panoptic Dreams not only identifies good practice in planning, design, and implementation, it will foster informed debate about the ethics and utility of streetscape video surveillance in Western democracies.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: Streetscape Monitoring Programs in Canada 1 Introduction 2 Establishing Streetscape Monitoring Programs Part 2: The Rise of Streetscape Monitoring Programs 3 Monitoring Programs in French Canada 4 Sudbury's Lions Eye in the Sky 5 Kelowna and the Constitutional Debate about Public-Area Video Surveillance 6 London's Downtown Camera Project Part 3: The Spread of Streetscape Monitoring Programs 7 The Expansion of Streetscape Monitoring Programs 8 Thwarted Efforts to Establish Streetscape Monitoring Programs 9 Thunder Bay's Eye on the Street 10 Panoptic Dreams: Arguments, Implications, and Recommendations Appendices Notes References Index

About the Author :
Sean P. Hier is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Victoria.

Review :
"With Panoptic Dreams, Hier has made a major scholarly contribution to surveillance studies. It combines sound theory, rigorous research, lucid analysis, and clear-minded proposals that stand to reinvigorate the policy discourse on how to make public-area video surveillance relevant to Canadian cities and towns. Panoptic Dreams is the benchmark for future empirical studies in this field." - Brandon C. Welsh, Professor of Criminology, Northeastern University; author of Making Public Places Safer: Surveillance and Crime Prevention (Oxford University Press, 2009)