New revelations about the death of Ian Tomlinson highlight the benefits of this media-saturated society, while Bob Quick’s embarrasing mistake shows its dangers.

When a man died at the anti-G20 protests in London at the beginning of this month, it seemed an open and shut case. Ian Tomlinson died of a heart attack; police had done their best to assist him when he fell to the ground. The Independent Police Complaints Commission let the London police conduct their own investigation, and didn’t look into things much further.

If it hadn’t been for the media doing their own research, that’s where things would have ended.

But then the whispers started: people reported seeing the police assaulting Tomlinson. With no documentary evidence to back up the reports, media treated them with caution. Soon though, a video emerged, showing a balaclava-wearing police officer whacking Tomlinson with his baton and shoving him to the ground. And then another video appeared, of the same incident from another angle.

The am-cam recordings, taken by ordinary people at the protests, serve as video referee; a second look at the situation to adjudicate between conflicting accounts from police and protesters.

The strange thing, of course, is that this city’s ubiquitous CCTV didn’t bring the attack to light earlier. Britain had one CCTV camera for every 14 people, the BBC reported in 2006. It seems incredible that official CCTV footage didn’t capture Tomlinson’s encounters with the police – just like one struggles to understand how three key cameras were out of action the day Jean Charles de Menezes was shot or how the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service managed to lose recordings of an interview with Ahmed Zaoui.

The case shows the importance of balance in public recording. We are told that CCTV is used to protect us – but who controls the recordings? Who owns them and who has the right to view them? As the “most surveilled country” in the Western world, Britain needs to regulate these recordings. There must be greater openness and accountability around CCTV, so that crucial recordings can’t go astray and so that they can be a true video referee – not just on certain occasions.

In the absence of such regulation, it is excellent that digital video cameras are so widely available and used by members of the public. Bystanders’ recordings have been hugely important in uncovering the truth in Ian Tomlinson’s death; the right to film in any public place must be protected.

On the flipside, the country’s top counter-terrorism police officer fell victim to London’s plethora of cameras on Thursday. On his way into Downing Street, Bob Quick accidentally flashed press photographers a top-secret document detailing an upcoming “anti-terror” operation. With telephoto lenses and high-speed internet, the details of the operation could have whipped around the world in minutes. Luckily, the government was able to flick out a D-Notice and keep their secrets safe. Phew.

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