O paradoxo da cidade monitorada : vigilância limitada e espaços públicos fragilizados a partir do estudo do sistema das câmeras do município de Vila Velha-ES

• Ano de defesa: 2015
• Autor(a) principal: Bricalli, Iafet Leonardi
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Tipo de acesso: Acesso aberto
• Idioma: por
• Instituição de defesa: Universidade Federal do Espírito Santo; BR; UFES; Programa de Pós-Graduação em Geografia
• Palavras-chave em Português: Surveillance; Public spaces; Safety; Segurança; Vigilância eletrônica Vila Velha (ES); Câmeras eletrônicas; Espaços públicos Vila Velha (ES); Geografia; 91
• Link de acesso: http://repositorio.ufes.br/handle/10/1512

This dissertation approaches the weakening of public spaces in the context of surveillance camera use. This issue will be discussed based on surveillance performed through cameras in the municipality of Vila Velha, ES, Brazil. We start from the premise that we live surrounded by technological devices that constantly produce data on social subjects and their spaces, as a form of control. The cameras are the best known examples of these devices, even though they are presented in the public administration’s discourse as tools to help ensure safety. The methodology employed was participant observation so as to follow the work performed “behind” the cameras. We concluded that various factors demystify this discourse: cameras that are not monitored; poor equipment maintenance; low salaries and poor labor conditions of operators; little or no interaction to other city government sectors; low credibility of this surveillance system within the police; etc. On the other hand, we carried out our study "in front of the cameras", observing the routine of three areas under camera surveillance in the neighborhoods of Praia da Costa, Glória e Riviera da Barra, and interviewing passersby, residents and business owners. Then we concluded that the surprising indifference in the way people deal with surveillance cameras is fed by the fact that the latter do not provide the safety intended. If the cameras do not assist in public safety, their use has the evil effect of weakening public spaces in Vila Velha since it poses potential and real threats to the underlying conditions in these spaces: plurality, liberty and individuality. Plurality and liberty, because surveillance cameras update a state of permanent monitoring. They feed the stigma about particular social groups, which are in turn targeted by surveillance, assigning the cameras the task of direct socio-spatial control about the spaces they monitor (a task that is recognized even by the citizens interviewed). And individuality, because that of citizens' is intentionally violated. Therefore, when surveillance cameras are intended to ensure quality of life to the population (providing safety), they have exactly the opposite effect.