Ok...this thread is in reply to Bluemoon's post on my other thread. I am not sure how many Rinks (or if any even do). But if not. What would everyone here think about...cameras in the Rink Lobby?..Now don't get me wrong. I would NOT want a camera being used to SPY on me,if they saw something just as simple as me going up to a (or another) Skater just to be friendly or talk. Or anything else innisent (sorry if that's wrong)....BUT cameras wouldn't be a bad idea for use of the kind of situation Bluemoon discrived. What do you all think?

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FSWer

I think to prevent incidents of theft, especially during the public sessions when there are a lot of people there. I know that I personally feel very safe at my rink and therefore am probably a little too careless there. I put my purse in my skatebag that is there for anyone to open. I don't use the lockers because I tend to go access my purse frequently. I don't worry during the school year when there are only 5 or so people on the ice and in the rink at any given time, but when the school groups are there I do tend to worry, because I've had kids try to take my skate guards before and play with them (and others', which they respond quickly to a "hey don't touch those, they aren't yours" by putting them down right away).

I think all the rinks have them to be honest. Well, all the ones around here do. Concerns of privacy aside, it's said the average USA citizen is caught on camera 200 times every single day, the average UK citizen 300 times - camera's are there and they're not going anywhere, get used to not having privacy in public, basically. Other than that, they can be very useful as a deterrent from doing any sort of crime.

Ah yes, the surveilance state, the great panopticon!

Cameras in rink lobbies seems a bit impractical. Don't most rinks have signs that state that management is not responsible for watching personal items and etc.? Ultimately, skaters are too trusting of the people at the rink -- even people you know may steal from you. If it is a concern, simply lock your purse in your car trunk, or bring your bag rinkside (not in a public session though). In the final analysis it is the skaters' responsiblity to look out for their own stuff.

Since I'm the one who brought up the cameras, I should say that the management company that runs most of the state-owned rinks in MA put cameras in the rink and the lobby more to watch out for vandalism and so they could keep an eye on their employees to be sure they're doing what they're paid to do. The fact that they might catch a thief of a kidnapper is incidental.

There's a lot of unescorted children at a rink. Some parents are amazingly negligent--drop off their kids for a public then go shopping for example. I would say that the presence of cameras helps discourage abduction. In addition, if there's an accident on rink (like the time a kid ran into me from behind and I fell on my knees) the injured party can sue the person or their parents who violated rink policy (skating too fast, teenagers playing crack the whip, or hockey boys playing chicken).

I would never take my purse into the rink and leave it in my skate bag. I lock my purse in my car and take my credit card wallet with me in my jacket pocket. My present rink has no lockers. What's with that?

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My rink has lockers, but it's 50 cents every time you open them. I should utilize them during the crowded sessions where I can just keep my phone and water in my bag.

In response to Sessy. I agree that YES I would NOT want my privacy affected. Nor as I said earier...I would NOT want a camera to be used to spy on me OR even as a way to catch people who were just inisently (again sorry I spelled that wrong) talking to other (or trying to make friends with) Skaters. Or anything like that. But as far as theft goes,maybe it WOULDN'T be a bad idea. Also in reply to drskater's post. It is TRUE that there are signs like that in the Rinks. However in a theft situation (locked up or not), I would say that that's were the line would be drawn. As Skaters can only just WATCH or LOCK-UP their things to a limit. So even if a Skater lock-up his/her skatebag. Somebody could still break into lockers. It wouldn't look good to if the Rink was to say "we can't call the police because were not responsible".

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FSWer

Every rink I've ever skated at has had cameras, but they don't record sound so you don't have to worry about conversations being recorded FSWer

BTW. Bluemoon. About what you said in my other thread. Is it alright to ask before we go on if you happen to know the details about how your Rink came to the conclussion of it being that it WAS indeed a guy distracting with LTS. Questions and got susspicous?

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FSWer

I think cameras are a great thing - you barely notice them, but when you need them, they are a lifesaver! Eg. who broke open the locker? Who stole a wallet and iphone?

That said, for people thinking that there are cameras everywhere, there are sadly wrong. In the rink in Singapore, there are blind areas (yes, areas, not corners) whereby people can just commit theft without being noticed. There are cameras at the ticketing area, the exit, the "spectators' gallery", the two sides of the ice and one or two more corners. Doesn't cover a substantial area.

I don't see the fuss with privacy and stuff, but I'm not hyper aware about cameras either. It's me on the camera, plus 100plus people a day anyway. Who's going to notice me?

The police investigated. That was their conclusion. That's all I know.

The rinks I worked at all had cameras. Not only can things be stolen (which is the owner's own fault for not locking their stuff up, quite frankly), but as mentioned, parents drop off children and leave them there and sadly things can happen. They are also good for the safety of rink employees, particularly since rinks open very early in the morning and close late at night and there is minimum staff on duty at that time--someone could come in and try to rob them. Granted this only really works for identification after the fact, although if you have a system with monitors and one person is working in the office where they can be seen, you would know if someone was trying to come in.

Also, we used them to keep an eye on all the kids and riff raff. We've all been to a rink during hockey and seen how hockey parents just let their kids run amok before/after games (or they let their other kids run around all over the place while they watch the kid who is playing). This is my biggest pet peeve about rinks. While it's not the rink staff's job to babysit kids who are running all over the place and causing trouble because their parents think the rink is a playground, cameras did help us see where this behavior was going on so that we could go break it up and find the parents.

A lot of places have cameras but they actually don't work and are just there for show, kind of like people with ADT signs in their yards who don't really have security systems. None of the cameras in my law school are connected to anything. They should be since it's an urban public school open at almost all hours and a lot of homeless people and junkies try to wander in, especially at night when it's cold, but that's a whole other issue.

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Not sure if my rink has them in the lobby (wouldn't surprise me) but they are over the registers . Maybe that can tell you why our rink had been losing money over the past few years?

They are also in the parking lot, since we are adjacent to the casino it makes sense.

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Skate@Delaware
Ah, show skating!!! I do it for the glitter!