Now here’s something you don’t see every day. Apparently, the British Police are developing a video game in which ordinary citizens can look through the lenses of actual CCTV cameras and try to catch a crime in progress. If they do see some shifty stuff going down, they just have to click their mouse and the operator on the receiving end is sent a text message including a picture of the alleged dirty deed.
Called Internet Eyes (Eagle Eye was taken), this web-based initiative will launch next month in a town called Stratford-upon-Avon. The site for the game has a “Hall of Fame” for the caught criminals, and will offer £1,000 to the most successful sleuth.
This raises all sorts of questions about, first off all, how the Police determines that something is actually a crime, and not just someone who locked their keys in their car. This system is open to abuse that way, where a griefer (and you know there will be griefers), will spam the site with a whole bunch of pictures of nothing. While I’m sure there are contingency plans in place to deal with potential problems, this might backfire in a pretty spectacular way.
I still think it’s a neat idea, just not one without its possible pitfalls. But, what do you guys think? Is this a brilliant scheme by the British Police, or does this cross a line? Can you see something like this spreading around the globe?
Source: Destructoid