Land of Oz

Security Cameras

Why bother? I have to wonder why people even bother with security cameras these days. Most of the ones used seem to be of such crappy quality that the pictures they take are useless. Today I read two articles about crimes that were caught on security cameras - with no help. In one episode, some guy grabbed a woman in an apartment complex and hauled her off in his car. Neither the asshole or the victim could be identified. In another article some other asshole knocked down a 78 year old women and stole $11 from her purse. Again, no identification could be made.

Have you ever seen the images these things take? While I'm sure there are some that have usable images, most of those published look a lot like this one - usually with the caption, "If you can identify this person, please call CRIMESTOPPERS." Most of the time, you couldn't even tell it was a person unless the caption made note of it.

It's funny, I was going to Photoshop some image to make a satirical image of how useless most bank robbery images are. No need to. The photo here is an actual photo from a news article. At first I thought it was my Uncle Ned, but his earlobes aren't quite so long. Of course, if this was CSI or Law & Order, you could hand that image over to your trusty forensics geek, and she/or he would return you an 8x10 photo with the person's birth certificate (which just happens to be sticking out of his jacket pocket a tad) enlarged with enough detail to show his doctor's fingerprints on it.

What's actually needed is a security cam like the ones carried by Predators out in Iraq. You know, the ones that have Hellfire missiles tucked under a wing. I'd pay money to see the last image returned by the Hellfire as it flew up that purse snatcher's rectum.

2fers: Hellfire Missile and Predator UAV