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S.F. Democratic Party stands behind Flock surveillance cameras in vote

38 points · 33 comments · mikhael

  1. HDThoreaun · · focus · HN ↗
    Am I the only one here who doesnt really care that the government is watching me all the time? London effectively eliminated violent crime by watching everyone all the time, doesnt seem to bad to me.
    1. some_random · · focus · HN ↗
      Didn't they have that whole thing a year or two ago where criminals were snatching phones out of peoples hands? Where the police response was to blame the victims and tell them to just pay more attention to their surroundings next time?
      1. HDThoreaun · · focus · HN ↗
        Robbery has fallen from 10 per 1000 to around 6. There are definitely a lot of confounders so Im not trying to claim is was 100% the surveillance but I do think the surveillance contributed to lower violent crime rates.
        1. some_random · · focus · HN ↗
          I don't know how these terms are defined exactly, but the BBC claims 71k reported stolen phones in 2025 vs a population of 9.2 million which gives a rate of 7.7 per 1000. There has definitely been improvement but that's obviously above 6. Maybe phone theft isn't counted as robbery?

          In any case, recovery rate is the other important metric here especially for justifying a surveillance state, and that has been absolutely terrible.

          Source: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;articles&#x2F;cdx4762znr6o" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.bbc.com&#x2F;news&#x2F;articles&#x2F;cdx4762znr6o

          1. DerekL · · focus · HN ↗
            No, they are usually different things.

            Robbery is theft using force or the immediate threat of force. The article you linked to says that much of the phone theft is done by pickpocketing.

            1. some_random · · focus · HN ↗
              Oh then of course robbery is down, why bother sticking someone up for pocket change no one carries when you can just steal their phone and escape on an ebike?
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