Malmö meter maids get spy cams in caps

Published: 21 Oct 09 10:10 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/22784/20091021/

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Parking attendants in Malmö are to have miniature video cameras attached to their caps as part of a bid to increase the safety of members of a profession often exposed to threats and harassment.

Starting this Wednesday, a number of meter maids from municipal firm Parkering Malmö will begin wearing the cap-borne cameras, which can register sound and video and are activated when an inspector pushes a button.

The resultant video clips will be saved, and may be used as evidence for incidents that are reported to the police or go to trial. All other clips will be erased.

"By virtue of the fact that we can record occurrences on video, we expect a reduction in the number of incidents in which parking attendants are exposed to verbal abuse and threats of violence," said Leo Strömberg, head of department at Parkering Malmö, in a statement.

Parkering Malmö is the first company of its kind in Sweden to experiment with video technology, a method it claims has worked well in the United Kingdom.

"The number of incidents almost halved when they started wearing cameras," said Parkering Malmö of the UK tests.

The city of Salford in Greater Manchester in north-west England was first to trial traffic warden headcams in the UK.

The country's National Car Parks Services (NCP) said that assaults had dropped 30 percent in the city as a direct result of the mini CCTY cams, which resulted in a first conviction in March last year (see clip).


TT/Paul O'Mahony (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6513)

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11:24 October 21, 2009 by misssh
big brother is watching you... I thought there was a law about recording in a public place here in Sweden something about civil rights or something??

I like to give them a mouth full as there way of going about their job or should i say company is wrong

IE: not having proper markings 10 meters from a corner and when asked they hold out there building lazer level and do a accurate measurement to the .0
11:37 October 21, 2009 by Harding00
I think it's a great idea, they aren't invading your privacy while on the streets (if they walked inot your home it would be another story). Do people get upset that there are cameras at banks in order to help protect the bank and it's employees? I don't think so. And also, misssh, sadly Sweden doesn't have a civil rights law concerning video taping. Acctually, it's quite sick that there is absolutely no video taping law. Check out this article from The Local

http://www.thelocal.se/17124/20090123/

It's about a guy who gets away with video tapping his stepdaughter in the shower because there is no law about video taping someone without there prior consent, even if that means they are being filmed in a private place.
15:20 October 21, 2009 by Ozpot
Traffic wardens to get detention powers

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2001/sep/12/ukcrime.politicalnews
15:47 October 21, 2009 by si
Parking Wardens are scum of the earth and deserve the abuse..
16:10 October 21, 2009 by crofab
Well it's not really a "spy" camera if you go and tell everyone about it, is it? So now, when people harass meter maids in Malmö, they will probably just steal their hats first.
16:32 October 21, 2009 by misssh
crofab: classic.... good call there LOL

they might now just ambush them from the back with a head blow so they dont even get into the camera´s view!!
19:16 October 21, 2009 by Harding00
@Leprehcaun, that's actually a great idea, I think they should give firefighters cameras too, or at least mount them on the trucks. And mount them on the trains that tend to get things thrown at them.
03:30 October 22, 2009 by Weird_X
the fact that people are throwing rocks at firetrucks shows what a civilised country sweden has become ;)
09:20 October 22, 2009 by craicen
Glad they didn't hve that when I got a fine 20times the actual parking fee when I came ten minutes late and had a good reason. Rent a cops are the worst types of human filth.
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