COUNCIL chiefs said ‘big brother’ campaigners who leave anti-CCTV stickers on camera poles could be prosecuted.
Wycombe District Council commented after the Big Brother Watch group published a photograph of one of its stickers on a pole in Frogmoor.
It shows a cameras with a ‘W’ across it. The sticker has now been removed.
Spokesman Leanne Watson said: “Our street cleansing teams operate daily from 8am – 6pm and endeavour to clean up any incidences of graffiti or vandalism brought to our attention and where appropriate, would consider prosecuting anyone who defaces council-owned property.
“We would strongly urge anyone who witnesses incidents of graffiti on public land, to contact the public safety team on 01494 421 404 or communitysafety@wycombe.gov.uk.”
Yet the group – which says it has sent out 10,000 of the stickers - says it is highlighting an issue of public concern.
Campaigns director Dylan Sharpe said: “If the council wants to come at us then we are ready.
“It would be a statement about how liberal and interested in peoples’ privacy Wycombe council is if it comes after us for a sticker on what is in essence a very authoritarian monument.”
He said CCTV is ‘yet another arm of state surveillance’ and is not an effective weapon against crime.
But Colin Baker, chairman of a lay panel that examines the town’s CCTV, branded the stickers ‘rather silly’.
The former Dr Who star and High Wycombe resident said: “It is a shame they need to enter into debate rather than putting stickers on things.
“I would love to know what it is they are worried about being seen doing.”
He said: “I tend to be of the opinion of why would you care if someone is watching you if you are not doing anything that is wrong?”
The Bucks Free Press today reports that eight more cameras have been approved for the town, for the area around the new Sainsbury’s in Oxford Road (see link, bottom of story).
The issue of CCTV cameras has proved controversial.
A consultation on how the council should spend its cash next year found most wanted a cut in CCTV.
But a month before the results were published the authority approved a £252,000 upgrade of systems.
It said control room equipment is ‘now obsolete and so could not be maintained’.
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