Granny Cam

I was reading about the Priceline guy and his scheme to make America safer by installing thousands of webcams at public facilities and training folks to watch from their homes for suspicious looking interlopers. The Wall Street journal called this a "moderately effective way to keep teenagers from getting stoned at the levee" but admired his ability to think out of the box.

The problem is that terrorists are tricky, other folks might show up who are unknown (eg: Al the Maintenance Man) etc. This approach would be much better suited to a less urgent type of security: nursing home abuse. I propose that this basic principle be changed to nursing homes. Webcams would be posted not just in resident rooms, but all around the place. Watchers would keep an eye out for folks getting abused, then report them to the authorities. Of course, some residents would not want surveillance in their private rooms - these would opt out.

This principle could be extended to state hospitals for the disabled, mentally ill, etc. It could also be extended to daycare and even, on a subscription basis, to private homes - a nannycam monitored by strangers. Even if someone was not dedicated to staring at a particular room 24 hours a day, the knowlege that the camera was on and someone might be watching should be enough to dissuade many wrongdoers.

Folks could work from home with this, if they chose. In this plan, occasional acts of abuse would be staged to see if the grannycam monitor catches them. Bonuses and special honors would be delivered to the vigilant.