Presented in a Nice bookstore yesterday afternoon, the new book by Laurent Mucchielli *cannot be overlooked.
In fact, the writer-sociologist upends the table in a caustic yet convincing manner, challenging one of the myths of the last decade…
Video surveillance has experienced a meteoric rise in France under the influence of Nicolas Sarkozy and François Fillon. This technology was presented as a major contribution to both the prevention and repression of crime and terrorism.
But does this security promise, actively maintained by the security industry, belong to myth or reality? What is the real purpose of video surveillance?
After investigating in three emblematic French cities, Laurent Mucchielli makes an unequivocal assessment: video surveillance is not and will never be an important tool in the fight against crime and even less against terrorism.
Dispelling the smoke screens, unveiling the “technological bluff” of the security industries, the waste of public money, and political demagoguery: these are the results of this uncompromising and deeply civic-minded essay.
Born in Nice, Laurent Mucchielli is a sociologist. After working on the history and epistemology of the human sciences, he turned to the sociology of crime and security policies. He is notably the author of Sociology of Delinquency (Armand Colin, 2018), Criminology and the Security Lobby (La Dispute, 2014), and Youth Gangs; from “black jackets” to today (La Découverte, 2007).
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