Talking CCTVs give ticking off

The government (UK) has been piloting schemes to place talking CCTV cameras on the high street.

Monitored by the police, the surveillance cameras are linked to loudspeakers through which an officer can attempt to discipline unruly behaviour without leaving the control room.

Even minor transgressions such as dropping litter can elicit a telling off from "Big Brother".

Such is the level of success of these schemes, the Government plans a nationwide rollout, as part of its campaign to stamp out anti-social behaviour.

Via thousands of CCTV cameras, Britain's high streets are the most watched on earth. Barry Coppinger of Middlesborough Council said: 'Our interventions have stopped punch-ups in the town centre, they've encouraged people who've dropped litter to pick it up, and they've prevented criminal damage'.

Civil liberties campaigners, however, see the ticking offs as invasive. 'Apart from being absurd,' Simon Mills author of 'Strictly No' told the BBC, 'it's rather sad that we should have faceless cameras barking at us, on orders from who?'

What do you think? Is this a step too far or a move in the right direction? Would you mind being ticked off in public for dropping litter?