BERLIN, GERMANY - AUGUST 03: Passersby walk under a surveillance camera which is part of facial recognition technology test at Berlin Suedkreuz station on August 3, 2017 in Berlin, Germany. The technology is claimed could track terror suspects and he …
SAN MARCOS, Texas - A Texas university will be employing students to monitor around 900 cameras around two campuses starting this fall, their student-run paper reported.
Texas State will be diverting what was a campus police operation to students, hoping to eventually use them for 24/7 surveillance.
Texas State ‘Operation Overwatch’
What we know:
The University Star reported Wednesday that "Operation Overwatch" is estimated to be fully staffed for the upcoming fall semester. They quoted the campus police chief as hoping to hire enough students to monitor campus cameras at all times.
The program was started as a way to take work off the plate of the campus police department. Currently, officers rotate between their normal duties and watching cameras, the student paper reported, but they'll soon be able to focus more on their regular work.
Student critiques
The other side:
One political science professor at the school reported his students critiquing the 24/7 surveillance hopes as similar to the Panopticon, attempting to use the implication of surveillance as a behavioral tool.
According to the professor, the students in the class, titled Politics of Dystopia, generally seemed to assume there was a "nefarious" connotation to the program.
On the other hand, a criminal justice professor at the school said the program was likely to be more effective in preventing and responding to campus crime than one where cameras were monitored passively.
What's next:
The paper reports the program was last known to have hired three students for the position so far, with efforts underway to employ more.
The Source: Information in this article comes from Jakob Salsgiver's reporting for the University Star.