The story of the prostitute killings in Ipswich, England is horrible. I think everyone would agree that, even if you are a prostitute, you don’t deserve to die in such a terrible manner. No one deserves to die like that and it is good that the police have arrested a suspect. However, the story also brings about a broader story that I have touched on several times before. The United Kingdom, and a few places in the USA, have touted that CCTV cameras help to prevent crime, despite evidence to the contrary.

Many authorities claim that CCTV cameras will help prevent and reduce crimes but the most they have done in this crime is release footage of one of the prostitutes shortly before she was murdered. Even though the United Kingdom is the one of the most watched societies in the world, they could do little to help this woman.

Now, this is not a dig at the police and saying they can’t do their jobs. What it is, is a criticism of the lackadaisical approach far too many people have towards CCTV. It gives the false sense of protection, when, instead, you should continue to have your guard up. It makes people feel safe when they are not.

This woman had a very dangerous job. You never know what kind of whack job your next john is going to be. The story is reminiscent of the Whitechapel murders and Jack the Ripper, as well as the Yorkshire Ripper. Five women are dead and the police can only ask for people to look closely at the images to help them solve the crime.

Prostitution in Britain is legal but there are laws that make providing sex for money difficult. For example, a woman can sell sex in an apartment, but advertising sexual services, streetwalking, brothels and kerb crawling are all illegal.

Many prostitutes are ignoring police warnings to stay at home and have declined the financial help offered to them. This is likely to continue, especially now that a suspect is in custody. Others in England have begun calling for better protection for prostitutes, legal brothels or both. The police have been deluged with more than 9,000 calls with information and over 10,000 hours of CCTV footage. Maybe, one of the killings was caught on tape. It’s unlikely though.

What will happen instead is that the police will eventually find the killer and point to the tip lines and the CCTV footage as the reason they found the killer. CCTV will be praised for its massive retention of video data and everyone will exclaim how great it is to live in a society where CCTV can save the day. However, law enforcement will claim that, these crimes could have been prevented if they had just had some more cameras in place. They surely would have seen the killer committing his act and would have prevented him from going on a crime spree. Then, everyone will return to their normal lives, waiting for the government to increase taxes so that they can be safer and be spied upon even more.

Other countries, most notably the USA, will use this as an example to shove CCTV down the throats of ignorant Americans and still claim that North Korea and China are evil because they spy on their citizens whereas the US government is merely helping to prevent terrorism and crime. Everyone will smile and give up more of their hard earned money because the government has done a good job of protecting them, while the rest of us cringe and continue to look for a place we can live free from the prying eyes of government.