Although these specific areas have had a high rate of people ent A lesson in how not to charged with terrorist offences, for example in , , m m spy on your community? and the wider area of the

co , this can in itself not Imran Awan discusses how the balance justify the disproportionate use of such surveillance. There was a real

and between security and intrusion has opportunity for undermined community relations. to engage and promote a mutual

es understanding after 7/7 and develop

u the West Midlands as a place of understanding and tolerance.

iss However, that opportunity was lost

when the police forgot their role as custodians for justice and instead

ical In the impact of are both heavy handed and counter- became the villains of peace.

p counter-terrorism legislation productive. There is no single pathway to and its operation on the Muslim With a number of high profile extremism; instead there are factors to community has led to a community police raids in Birmingham since the from socio-ethnic to cultural reasons. that does not trust the police force. creation of counter-terrorist laws, One key factor is ideology enshrined The West Midlands Police force there is a sentiment of distrust and in political grievances and a was so concerned with the terrorist resentment. The fear is that this could mistaken understanding of Islam. threat that it decided to install pave the way for further extremism However, the CCTV cameras secret covert and overt cameras. within these communities. For installed in Sparkbrook and The thinking surely was that the example, since ‘Operation Gamble’ Washwood Heath will mean there is police could use these cameras to which involved a series of police now a grave fear that some Muslim spy upon a community and help raids in 2007 in the Alum Rock area youth may turn to extremism prevent another 7/7. of Birmingham, aimed at foiling a because of anger, alienation and terrorist plot to behead a British dissatisfaction from British society. The fact Washwood Heath and Muslim soldier (Guardian Press Under Project Champion Sparkbrook are predominately Association, 2008), the local (working with Safer Birmingham Muslim areas means fundamentally community feels their reputation has Partnership, Birmingham City that the police thought the fight been tarnished and believe they are Council and other agencies), the against Al-Qaeda had now reached perceived as supporting, condoning areas were to be monitored by a the streets of Birmingham. Yet it and nurturing terrorism. network of 218 cameras, including appears the cameras have had a 72 hidden ones. The cameras were counter-productive effect, further put up, it was claimed, to tackle all fuelling the risk that some members forms of crime, predominately in of the local community may now Muslim suburbs in the Washwood turn to extremism with the initiative, Heath and Sparkbrook area. The known as Project Champion, Muslim people in this community becoming a key part in terrorist come from a culture where they do propaganda. Many questions not like to complain, and they do not remain unanswered. For example, have any expectations that things what will be the long-term impact of should be better with policing. This is this event on the Muslim families? precisely why critics argue that West Will it lead to a community Photo courtesy of Melinda Kerrison Midlands Police targeted this Spying on the community? becoming isolated from wider British community because of its society? Has it had the result of vulnerabilities (how wrong they radicalising those concerned, leading The previous government had were!). All this has achieved is to to extremism within this local stated that the strategic key was further alienate a community already community? ‘winning hearts and minds’. antagonised by the Government’s Between September 2001 and Enlisting the support of these local ‘Prevent’ strategy.’ March 2008, there were over 1,500 communities is crucial in the fight The covert cameras formed what people arrested under counter- against extremism. However these is known as a ‘ring of steel’, which terrorism legislation, a third were raids, and the subsequent CCTV means local residents’ every move charged but only one in eight people surveillance, have caused further was being tracked. There was no convicted (Home Office, 2009). This damage as the community has a formal consultation over the scheme, has led to claims within these deep mistrust of the police and and local councillors who were communities that the police tactics counter-terrorism legislation. briefed about the cameras said they

10 ©2011 Centre for Crime and Justice Studies 10.1080/09627251.2011.550149

rCJM No 83.indd 10 25/02/2011 07:43:07 were deceived into believing they With the police force now facing predominately Muslim areas were to tackle anti-social behaviour. a possible legal challenge under the (namely, and Handsworth). The cameras in actual fact were paid European Convention on Human Building trust is the only way to ent for by the Terrorism and Allied Rights, there is a real sense that there win hearts and minds but the Matters fund, administered by the is still more litigation on the way. cameras have only caused more m m

Association of Chief Police Officers. Although there is a public review damage to a fragile relationship. co It has long been argued that currently under way, the Chief West Midlands Police now have the CCTV surveillance is an infringement Constable of West Midlands Police unenviable task of trying to restore

of privacy and civil liberty, but by the has stated his desire to remove the the community’s trust. The police and same token is a key tool in tackling cameras; however I would argue that must now repair some of that

the fear crime. At the same time police will continue to use the damage caused by engaging with es

serious questions have been raised cameras in another form, namely for grass roots, and by visiting local u about CCTV’s effectiveness in tackling normal crime. community members and Mosque’s

preventing serious crime (Gill and Amidst the storm of controversy (considered places of tolerance and iss

Spriggs, 2005). Moreover, it has been surrounding the CCTV cameras, West an agent for the community). The argued that CCTV could fall foul of Midlands Police have further policing pledge in the West Midlands

simply targeting a specific exacerbated the potential for ethnic is in tatters, and in order for the ical

community disproportionately bias against the Muslim community police to change that perception it p resulting in a clear breach of privacy through the use of gunshot location will mean reaching out to thousands to laws (Scarman Centre, 2005). technology. The technology, known of people, by admitting mistakes Project Champion has been as Shot Spotter, is used to prevent were made, but also building trust abandoned for now but the cameras gun-related crime and has been again as this could provide a key tool remain – with bags over them – and successful across the United States, in preventing seeds of extremism and have left a dark cloud hanging over but the pilot scheme (Project Safe isolation developing as a result of the local residents who feel they have and Sound) now being run in ‘spycam’ saga. n been unfairly targeted. A recent Birmingham could have wider damning report of the project, reverberations across the city for Imran Awan is Senior Lecturer at the Centre conducted by Sarah Thornton, Chief community relations. The system has for Police Sciences, University of Glamorgan. Constable of Thames Valley Police, acoustic sensors that, over an area of revealed how members of the police 25 miles, can locate gunfire and then References force operated in what can only be use audio information and video to Gill, M. and Spriggs, A. (2005), ‘Home described as mafia style policing. The capture a suspect or the scene of the Office Research Study 292’, Assessing report highlights how there was a crime. The technology will collect the impact of CCTV, London: Home ‘storyline’ and a baseless ‘narrative’ information and actual recording Office Research, Development and in order to conceal the real truth clips, which are dispatched to Statistics Directorate. behind the cameras (Thornton, communication centres and the local Guardian Press Association (2008), 2010). The report makes a point in police force. ‘Profile: Perviz Khan’, The Guardian, arguing that police officers had There is once again a perception www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/18/ ‘misled’ the local community and that the police are unfairly targeting uksecurity3 (accessed 22 November local community leaders on the true the Muslim community as they did 2010). nature of the use of these cameras. with the CCTV debacle, leaving Home Office (2009), Statistics on What is even more worrying is that many questions unanswered. For Terrorism, Arrests and Outcomes, 11 West Midlands Police failed to example, where will the sensors be September 2001 to 31 March 2008, comply with CCTV Regulation of deployed? What do they look like? http://rds.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs09/ Investigatory Powers Act 2000 and And more crucially this time, will the hosb0409.pdf. the legal regulatory framework police consult with the Muslim Scarman Centre (2005), The National (Thornton, 2010). community about their views? Critics Evaluation of CCTV: Early findings on It was clear the cameras were argue the technology (which costs Scheme implementation, London: Home Office. there for much more than fighting over £150,000) is another attempt by crime or anti-social behaviour, as the state to spy on ‘innocent’ The Telegraph Press Association (2010), was initially suggested, and were communities who may not be ‘Police apologise for putting 200 CCTV cameras in Muslim area’, used as a mechanism to spy on the involved in gun-related crime but www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/ Muslim community. West Midlands caught up by Birmingham’s war zone law-and-order/8034999/Police- Police have had to publicly apologise image. The problem for West apologise-for-putting-200-CCTV- for getting it ‘badly wrong’ (The Midlands Police is managing two cameras-in-Muslim-area.html (accessed Telegraph, 2010), but the lasting polarising views; on the one hand 18 October 2010). damage they have caused between the technology is being used to Thornton, S. (2010), Project Champion community relations has made prevent a serious crime and, on the Review, www.west-midlands.police.uk/ gathering intelligence for the police other hand, the scheme will latest-news/docs/Champion_Review_ even more problematic than ever stigmatise a community as the FINAL_30_09_10.pdf. before. technology will be deployed in

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