KEITH SHARP, prospective parliamentary candidate, Independent, for Newton Abbot, writes:
I may well be able to help Thomas Hirst, chairman of the Newton Abbot Business Group, in his quest to fund more CCTV cameras.
He should write to the Sicherheitsdienst (security service) at the German Ministry of the Interior, Alt-Moabit 101D, 10559 Berlin, and ask how the Stasi acquired its money.
If nobody is at home, as they often aren't these days when the Stasi is mentioned, he should try the European Commission in Brussels.
They will be able to tell him not only what funds are available, courtesy British taxpayers, but what new laws are being dreamed up to spy on innocent shoppers.
Failing that, Mr Hirst should try to get out more – or at least read the papers. He would then learn one or two facts about CCTV which challenge his own somewhat limited horizons.
Only last month, for instance, it was reported that 1,000 CCTV cameras are needed to solve one crime – a year! How many more cameras does Mr Hirst have in mind to solve the problems of his group in Newton Abbot?
If Mr Hirst and his fellow merchants wish to spy on their customers, they should at least do so at their own expense. To issue a plea for 'funding' simply adds insult to injury.
My advice to those who regard CCTV as an invasion of their privacy is to avoid shops which treat their customers as potential criminals. There are plenty of other shops which would welcome the business.
Were I to be elected as the Member of Parliament for Newton Abbot, I would do everything possible not only to curb the spread of CCTV but to dismantle those cameras already in place.
As the Times said recently: 'Britons must guard against becoming a nation of snoops. We must not, like the Stasi, assume a right to pry into the lives of others'.
Perhaps Mr Hirst might like to quote that next time he writes about the joys of surveillance.