Dogshit Detector Vans
Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 1:47 pm
You couldn't make it up.
I happened to catch an item on the lunchtime news today about Edinburgh about to become the first city in Britain to have a dedicated fleet of camera vans going round on patrol to try and catch dog-walkers whose four-leggers foul the footways.
While I agree that dog-owners should take responsibility and clean up after their pets - and let's face it stepping in a pile of doggy-do isn't pleasant - I can't help but think that this is yet another case of Big Brother overkill and a sledgehammer being used to crack a nut, especially in view of the fact that most responsible dog-owners carry these doglog-scoopers round with them these days anyway.
I mean - how much is all this suveillance technology (coupled with the accompanying bureaucracy and the inevitable regiment of jobsworth turd-wardens) going to cost the taypayer anyway?
Aren't there enough cameras about already (Britain being statistically the world's greatest suveillance society after North Korea)?
And if we do in fact need even more cameras, aren't there more pressing social problems and deviancy that need tackling?
Is it simply because dog turds are an (excuse the pun) soft target, and criminalising dog-lovers is an easy option for improving the (excuse pun again) 'clean-up' figures?
- Eric
I happened to catch an item on the lunchtime news today about Edinburgh about to become the first city in Britain to have a dedicated fleet of camera vans going round on patrol to try and catch dog-walkers whose four-leggers foul the footways.
While I agree that dog-owners should take responsibility and clean up after their pets - and let's face it stepping in a pile of doggy-do isn't pleasant - I can't help but think that this is yet another case of Big Brother overkill and a sledgehammer being used to crack a nut, especially in view of the fact that most responsible dog-owners carry these doglog-scoopers round with them these days anyway.
I mean - how much is all this suveillance technology (coupled with the accompanying bureaucracy and the inevitable regiment of jobsworth turd-wardens) going to cost the taypayer anyway?
Aren't there enough cameras about already (Britain being statistically the world's greatest suveillance society after North Korea)?
And if we do in fact need even more cameras, aren't there more pressing social problems and deviancy that need tackling?
Is it simply because dog turds are an (excuse the pun) soft target, and criminalising dog-lovers is an easy option for improving the (excuse pun again) 'clean-up' figures?
- Eric