[Gllug] [OT] Times Article on ABD was Fighting a virus

[Mike Brodbelt]

David Damerell wrote:

> feel like committing. Frankly, since burglars occasionally kill people
> and motorists kill people every day, they'd have a slightly better
> point than you, not that that's saying much.

The clear difference in this case is one of intent, and intent is an
issue which is considered important in the English legal system. To
argue that crime prevention and accident prevention should be approached
the same way seems to be be conflating two wildly different phenomena,
and doesn't really help your point.

>> In some
>> instances, they're dangerous - like on the North Circular where foreign
>> drivers aren't sure of the limits and slam on their brakes when they see
>> them,
> 
> I never was a big fan of the idea of warning criminals that they're
> about to be caught, no.

That is a specious argument if you accept the public line that these are
*safety* cameras. If the primary aim is accident prevention, as claimed,
then large and prevalent warning signs are a good idea. In fact, it
would be better to remove all cameras entirely, and replace them with
sensor linked signs that flash up the speed of passing motorists, as
these have been demonstrated to be more effective in accident prevention.

The only case for not having prominent signing is if your objective is
not to prevent accidents, but to prosecute speeding motorists - possible
as a revenue raising scheme. There are many who believe that the
motivation for the current system contains a significant element of this.

> Burglaries are a particularly ridiculous example, actually, and you've
> mentioned why it is yourself. Since reporting is necessary for
> insurance claims, it's extremely hard to massage the figures. Unless
> you want to claim contents insurance has gone massively out of
> fashion?

The fact that the crime is reported doesn't necessarily mean it gets
classified as burglary. Distinctions that seem irrelevant to the victims
of the crime can have legal significance, and so the figure for burglary
may well not square with what many lay people would understand as
burglary. That's not to say the figures have gone up of course - I've
seen it mentioned that the figured for abductions and murders of
children have remained almost unaltered for decades, yet the media
attention lavished on each such case has made today's parents far more
fearful for their children than the parents of 40 years ago.

Mike
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