Tuesday - March 10, 2009

School bans CCTV film check to protect iPod thief’s rights.  Can they get any dumber?

BMEWS readers all ....

I read part (okay only the headline) of an article this morning that says people who are always angry are at risk of heart attacks.
So I thought ... hmmmm.  They’re talkin’ to me.  Maybe I’d better say my goodbyes now while I can and while I still feel fit.

So just in case the worst happens, it’s been great knowin’ ya’ll and here’s just another example of why I’m perpetually pissed off!

This appeared in this morning’s Telegraph on page 13.  Unfortunately, the story isn’t online in their site. Typical of these SOBs and so I’m PO’d on that score too as I had to go to something called Press Display and sign up for an account where they give me a couple of free articles a week I think it is.  So that means I haven’t a direct link to the article.  But you can tell I am NOT making this up.

So now I’m 2wice angry. 

Here is more lunacy from comrade socialist nanny state.

10 Mar 2009
The Daily Telegraph
By Richard Savill

School bans CCTV film check to protect iPod thief’s rights

ATEENAGER whose £165 iPod was stolen from a school changing room has been told that he cannot view CCTV footage because it would infringe the rights of the thief.

Oliver Wheen, 16, wanted to see if there was footage of the incident at Varndean School in Brighton to identify the suspect, but was refused permission by teachers who cited the Data Protection Act.
The schoolboy’s bag, containing his house keys and books, as well as the iPod, was taken during a PE lesson, forcing his mother, Lesley Wheen, to change the locks on their home.

Mrs Wheen, whose son also made an unsuccessful request under the Freedom of Information Act to view the footage, said: “It makes a bit of a mockery of having the cameras in the first place. What are they actually there for? If they are supposed to be a deterrent they obviously have not deterred anyone.”
The schoolboy asked to see the footage from cameras covering the entrance to the changing room after his bag was stolen while he was in a 90-minute games lesson which included trampolining in the sports hall.

A spokesman for the school said: “As a rule it is locked but every child knows that if they have anything valuable in their bag they have to give it to the teacher for them to lock up.
“There are no CCTV cameras in the changing rooms for privacy reasons so the only footage would have been someone walking out with the pupil’s bag.
“It has been reviewed and nothing like that was seen.”

The boy was initially allowed to watch the footage in fastforward alongside a member of staff, but after he complained the video needed to be shown in real time he was referred to a senior teacher who made clear he should not have been shown it in the first place.
Wendy Kassamani, the information compliance officer for Brighton and Hove council, said: “You are entitled to CCTV footage of yourself but not of other people.”

The school said police and designated members of staff were allowed to view the footage. “The matter including the footage has been passed to police.”
The spokesman added that it was the choice of pupils as to whether they brought an iPod into school.

Pupils had responsibility for their iPods and they were not allowed to use them in lessons unless directed to by the teachers.
The teenager’s bag has been handed back three weeks after it vanished.

Sussex Police are investigating the theft of the iPod which is still missing.

-30-

They allowed a fast forward view. Oh that’s a big help.  Can you folks believe this crap? So they watched and nothing showed up. Fine. But this is so darn stupid it defies description.  So I’ll leave the rest of that to you.

Posted by peiper     on 03/10/2009 at 06:12 AM   
Filed Under: • Daily Life • Education • Nanny State • Stoopid-People • UK •  
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