Reactive security at its finest

I've been hearing on the news about Georgia State University (@GeorgiaStateU) installing 50 new security cameras. No doubt, universities in downtown Atlanta (one of the highest-crime cities in the nation) are not fairing so well with security these days so somebody needs to do something, no?

Well, Georgia State's solutions was to install more security cameras. Is this security theater at it's finest? Not totally, but it is security theater like I see all the time in townhome and apartment complexes where the "gate's always up".

This reminds me of some security concerns I found when I first moved into my previous office: outside doors staying unlocked around the clock, wiring closet accessible to everyone who comes inside the building among others...When I mentioned these concerns to my landlord he, in typical head-in-sand fashion, brushed them off and said "We have security cameras that monitor the parking lot." Oh, okay, well in that case...sheesh.

Like cloud computing contracts and SLAs that so many businesses over-rely on, these cameras are certainly good for reactive measures - a means to fall back on. Sure, they may deter a few thugs but they're not going to stop the actual crime in most situations (think convenience store robberies we see on video all the time). Perhaps this would but it'd never fly so the crimes will likely continue. As with criminal hackers, the thugs terrorizing Atlanta's streets know they have the upper hand.