Visual surveillance of urban areas is booming worldwide. In South Africa, where the police fight a deadly war against crime daily, surveillance tech is increasingly used by local municipalities to augment an understaffed and under-resourced police force. In the lead is Cape Town, with more than 1,500 CCTV cameras, 626 of which are specifically dedicated to crime detection and prevention. The City has also acquired drones for this purpose. One driving force behind this is the assumption that cameras will make things safer. But there are clear indicators that, in the long run, the hidden costs of 24/7 visual surveillance can easily outweigh its ability to make our lives better.

Cape Town is a dangerous place. The 2017/2018 police statistics show this. Cape Town Central Police Station had, at 15,422 incidents, the highest number of serious community reported crimes in the country. There are 17 such crimes, including, but not limited to, murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravating circumstances, rape, and assault with the intent to inflict...