By Kyle Auger
Editor-in-Chief

In today’s progressive society, privacy seems to becoming almost an antique. Government is spending more and more to keep their citizens safe, and their expenditures have reached a level that seems outrageous. This can be seen as Westford Academy discusses whether or not to install cameras in the hallways and staircases.

I think this is a disaster on many different fronts. It is a waste of funds that could be used elsewhere, and they would not be worth the investment because they will not stop any violent crime but focus manpower on antics in the hallways that may not be the best allocation of time and effort.

I understand the idea behind the cameras; we have seen terrible catastrophes in schools around the nation which have ended in death and pain. It is only human nature that you would try to enact things to stop them from happening her at any cost.

Even though the base ideas are logical, I think leaders can become swept up in post-disaster fever and realize the things they create are a massive waste of money.

For example, in Foxborough, the school system approved to put cameras in their schools with a price tag of $112,000. This price seems to be inordinately high for the seemingly unlikely chance they are used, and even if they are, their use would be counteractive. This is despite the arguments that schools where there have been disasters have not had cameras.

But what could the cameras really stop? People claim that the cameras are a mental deterrent and so they would stop gunmen or anything of the like. It is important to think practically instead of adding whatever we can. If someone is in the mental state that they are willing to hurt innocent people, it seems unlikely that they will care whether or not they are caught on camera.

If this is true, it takes away the idea that cameras will stop violent crimes, so it comes down to hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on cutting down on students wandering the halls and other minor offenses. This leaves the school leaders with a divisive inner argument as to whether cutting down on hallway shenanigans is worth such a sum. This matched with the in-school officer, which is another muli-thousand dollar expense, would make the cost of security astronomical.

Another point worth consideration is who will be using the cameras. Will they hire another person whose job it is to strictly stare at the screens all day? That also does not seem like the soundest investment.

I do not mean to sound harsh or unsympathetic, but it is my job to present an opinion that is not fear driven; we need to think about the logistics, and to me, they do not add up. It seems that the cameras are nothing but a product of post disaster overreaction and a monumental waste of money on something that will never be a return on the investment.