Yes. Cities around the world are installing spy cameras to keep a very close watch over its residents and tourists. Some cities like New York and London have so many surveillance cameras people are watched almost everywhere they go.
The growing number, of closed-circuit cameras that monitor Lancaster, Pennsylvania, are run by a private group of citizens, unlike the United Kingdom’s government-run CCTV system. The national slogan for the UK may as well be: In CCTV We Trust.
It is run by a private non-profit group that does not directly report to any government agency. The Lancaster Community Safety Coalition hires private citizens to monitor the activity caught on camera and report any suspicious activity to police.
Although proponents of the cameras point out that they have helped with the prosecution of crimes such as murder, assault, prostitution and public drunkenness, the crime rate in Lancaster actually rose while the cameras were being used.
Lancaster might be the most closely watched town in America, but it is nothing compared to many cities in the U.K. (which is widely known as one of the most monitored places on earth), with older estimates putting the number of closed circuit cameras at roughly 4.8 million. According to a 2002 article from BBC News, a U.K. citizen is caught on tape 300 times a day. Yet with all this surveillance crime rates have decreased slightly in only half the cities in the UK with the spy cameras.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a UC Berkeley study found that the cameras installed in San Francisco may have helped prevent property crimes, but had little or no effect on violent crimes.
In some U.S. cities the cameras have been rejected. Cambridge, Massachusetts, decided not to use cameras it had purchased in an effort to preserve the privacy of its citizens. Some residents of Lancaster are threatening to move out of town if its network of cameras continues to grow. [1]
According to Scripture freedom will continue to decrease and be non-existent during the coming seven-year Tribulation.
Endnotes
[1] Drogin, Bob. “Lancaster, PA, keeps a close eye on itself.” 6.21.2009.
Lovett, Haley, A. “Small US Town Watched by Private Network of Cameras.”6.24.2009.