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UK schools put cameras in bathrooms and lockers
Source: Agencies |
September 13, 2012, Thursday
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AT the King Ecgbert School in Sheffield, teens who go to the loo are never really alone - video cameras are inside all 12 bathrooms.
Citing findings gathered via freedom-of-information requests, privacy activists yesterday identified King Ecgbert as one of more than 200 high schools across Britain that have installed surveillance cameras in bathrooms or locker rooms.
The group behind the report, Big Brother Watch, said a powerful watchdog is needed to ensure that students' privacy is protected.
The report "will come as a shock to many parents," said director Nick Pickles. "Schools need to come clean about why they are using these cameras and what is happening to the footage."
Lesley Bowes, King Ecgbert's principal, argued that the cameras help keep her students safe. "It's a way of safeguarding our children," she said.
She described her school's cameras - whose footage is reviewed only if there is suspicion of wrongdoing - as useful anti-bullying tools. And she rejected any suggestion that the recording captures the students' most intimate activities, saying the cameras monitor just the doors.
"The cameras are nowhere near the toilet cubicles," she said.
A total of 207 high schools across England, Wales and Scotland acknowledged installing cameras in bathrooms and changing rooms, according to Big Brother Watch, which sent freedom-of-information requests to nearly 4,100 schools in May.
That's a conservative figure, according to Pickles. Nearly half of the schools queried didn't reply by the deadline.
It isn't clear where in the bathrooms all those cameras are being placed, who is watching or whether any youngsters have been taped in states of undress.
The Information Commissioner's Office, an independent authority in Britain whose duties include promoting privacy, said recording in toilets or changing rooms is legal, but it is recommended that it be used only in the most exceptional circumstances.
By contrast, in the US, the use of video cameras in schools is generally not allowed in places where there is a "reasonable expectation of privacy," such as bathrooms and locker rooms, according to the Justice Department.
"The cameras for the toilets are strategically placed in the doorways and directed toward the washbasins to identify any students if there are any reported incidents in these areas," said M. L. Litton, principal of the Wildern School in southern England, which has one camera in each of its 12 bathrooms.
"The images are not looked at unless there has been a reported problem and all images are deleted after a maximum of 30 days," she added.
Although knife crime is a problem in urban areas, British high schools aren't blighted by the deadly gun violence that has prompted many US counterparts to install airport security-style metal detectors at their entrances.
Both King Ecbert and Wildern said the cameras weren't meant to tackle serious problems, with Litton saying the cameras had mainly been installed to control "typical teenage stuff," such as smoking.
Citing findings gathered via freedom-of-information requests, privacy activists yesterday identified King Ecgbert as one of more than 200 high schools across Britain that have installed surveillance cameras in bathrooms or locker rooms.
The group behind the report, Big Brother Watch, said a powerful watchdog is needed to ensure that students' privacy is protected.
The report "will come as a shock to many parents," said director Nick Pickles. "Schools need to come clean about why they are using these cameras and what is happening to the footage."
Lesley Bowes, King Ecgbert's principal, argued that the cameras help keep her students safe. "It's a way of safeguarding our children," she said.
She described her school's cameras - whose footage is reviewed only if there is suspicion of wrongdoing - as useful anti-bullying tools. And she rejected any suggestion that the recording captures the students' most intimate activities, saying the cameras monitor just the doors.
"The cameras are nowhere near the toilet cubicles," she said.
A total of 207 high schools across England, Wales and Scotland acknowledged installing cameras in bathrooms and changing rooms, according to Big Brother Watch, which sent freedom-of-information requests to nearly 4,100 schools in May.
That's a conservative figure, according to Pickles. Nearly half of the schools queried didn't reply by the deadline.
It isn't clear where in the bathrooms all those cameras are being placed, who is watching or whether any youngsters have been taped in states of undress.
The Information Commissioner's Office, an independent authority in Britain whose duties include promoting privacy, said recording in toilets or changing rooms is legal, but it is recommended that it be used only in the most exceptional circumstances.
By contrast, in the US, the use of video cameras in schools is generally not allowed in places where there is a "reasonable expectation of privacy," such as bathrooms and locker rooms, according to the Justice Department.
"The cameras for the toilets are strategically placed in the doorways and directed toward the washbasins to identify any students if there are any reported incidents in these areas," said M. L. Litton, principal of the Wildern School in southern England, which has one camera in each of its 12 bathrooms.
"The images are not looked at unless there has been a reported problem and all images are deleted after a maximum of 30 days," she added.
Although knife crime is a problem in urban areas, British high schools aren't blighted by the deadly gun violence that has prompted many US counterparts to install airport security-style metal detectors at their entrances.
Both King Ecbert and Wildern said the cameras weren't meant to tackle serious problems, with Litton saying the cameras had mainly been installed to control "typical teenage stuff," such as smoking.
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