The use of video surveillance in situational prevention of bullying in Belgrade secondary schools

Abstract

Video surveillance is a technique of formal surveillance widely used as a visible security measure in the context of situational prevention in schools. One of the usages is related to the prevention of bullying as a school security risk. This paper presents the results of research in 19 Belgrade secondary schools that was focused on the current state of the video surveillance system in these schools and whether this technique is effective in situational prevention of bullying. Data on the current state of the system were collected using the observation method, while data on the effectiveness were collected based on interviews with 44 members of the Teams for protection in these schools. The research findings show that all included schools use video surveillance, but that in half of them there are problems with insufficient coverage of the school facilities and/or defective equipment. The prevailing opinion among the members of the Teams for protection is that video surveillance is effective in situational prevention of bullying, emphasizing its two advantages. The first one is the deterrent effect, based on the presumption that students will make a decision not to start or to continue prohibited behavior if there is a risk of being detected and caught. The second advantage relates to the detection of cases of prohibited behavior, in which the possibilities of collecting evidence, reconstructing the course of the incident and identifying the offenders are outlined. The general conclusion of the research is that the use of video surveillance has potential for situational prevention of physical bullying, but only provided that the school facilities are well covered and that video surveillance is used in combination with other techniques of formal surveillance, especially the surveillance by teachers and security staff.