Most of the schools under Fredensborg Council in Northern Zealand have installed CCTV as a way of preventing vandalism, according to Frederiksborg Amts Avis.

For the Nivårødgaard school, which spent DKK 223,000 two years ago to repair damage, the introduction of cameras has completely stopped vandalism against school property.

Political support
Other council schools have reported similar reductions in vandalism causing politicians to promise further funds to install more CCTV.

“We are willing to find the funds. If the schools say that this is something that has an effect, then we are prepared to support them. If a school has two million kronersworth of damage each year, and it costs 300,000 kroner to install CCTV – then there’s money that can be saved,” says Liberal politician Thomas Bak.

Expert urges caution
According to Anders Albrechtslund of Aalborg University, who has written his Ph.D. thesis on monitoring and ethics, there is no scientific proof that monitoring solves all problems.

“My advice on school monitoring is that you must determine exactly why it is being installed, so it doesn’t suddenly become a medium for something else,” says Albrechtslund.

As an example, Albrechtslund says that if schools begin to use CCTV to see if pupils leave school during school hours, the objective of CCTV will have changed – and that is something to be wary of.