taken 2 years ago, near to Livingston Village, West Lothian, Scotland
I Wonder Why?
This is the sign that greets you when entering West Lothian College from its main entrance. I have never encountered similar signs at schools or universities.
Online digging didn't reveal too much, other than a few adverts claiming that bodycams reduce conflict in the classroom. Even if they do, it is immediately putting people/students who might be that way inclined in a confrontational mindset from the outset I feel!
I can only assume that this sign is deemed necessary because a lot of people attending West Lothian College have no desire to be there, but must attend to receive money, and that some cause trouble. I have phrased questions to Google in various ways, as if I am 16, to find out under what circumstances an under-18 can claim Jobseekers Allowance (in old language: the dole). The answer seems to be, reading between the lines, that these circumstances will hardly ever exist, and that until 18 you must enrol in some educational program or other in order to receive state handouts.
Whilst I, like a lot if people I imagine, have a lot of sympathy with the DSS (or whatever name they are going by right now) because of the calculating ones that cleverly play the system, it does seem that the internet, which you would think would be utilised to clarify things, is just used as an extra line of defence/obfuscation, and will probably only thwart the deserving and occasional applicants. The overall policy was undoubtedly one arrived at with noble intentions, but the presence of this sign should prompt a rethink I think.
But then again for all I know every public-facing employee may be required to wear one of these cameras by law in times to come, in some kind of Orwellian dystopia.
This page has been
viewed about
22 times