Cameras fail again

Nobody wants to state the obvious:

A man seen in a surveillance video following a Kansas teenager out of a store has been arrested in her abduction and slaying, police said.

...

During the search for the teen, police released a pair of videos. The first showed Smith leaving a store, soon followed by a man with a goatee. The second, which is of poor quality, shows a woman police believe to be Smith being forced into a car by a man. (Watch the struggle in the parking lot )

Smith's body was found Wednesday afternoon near a lake in a park across the state line in Missouri. Police have not said how she died.

Captain Obvious just had to say it:

"I realize this is not the preferred conclusion," Overland Park Police Chief John Douglass said.

You mean the camera couldn't save her?!?!?!?!?!?

Note to society: This Orwellian obsession with CCTV cameras is over. This case is a perfect example: the camera did absolutely nothing to deter, much less prevent, the kidnap and murder off this girl. What the camera did do, however, was to provide CNN with emotionally-soaked fodder to keep us watching, while the ad dollars roll in.

Tam has been experiencing firsthand a different kind of failure of CCTV technology to keep us safe. Check it out.

CCTV Cameras are intrusive. The threat their presence poses to our civil rights far outweighs their usefulness in fighting crime. Ask any Brit.

Cameras. Do. Not. Keep. You. Safe.

Get rid of them.