Robocop has come to London, and civil liberties groups – and residents – are not happy about it. An automated talking CCTV camera which warns passers-by that a communal garden is a "restricted area" has been dubbed "police state" technology. 

Talking cameras first appeared in Middlesbrough in 2007 before spreading to other parts of the UK. They normally rely on a real person talking to alleged miscreants via a loudspeaker from the CCTV control centre.

The new system, installed by Camden Council on the Walker House estate near St Pancras, is thought to be the first time an automated voice triggered by CCTV cameras has been used in this way.

Local resident Jim Jepps was so outraged when he discovered that the mere act of walking through the communal garden by his block of flats triggered a robotic American voice to threaten him that he filmed it, posting the video on the internet.

When Jepps nears the camera in the green space, the voice says: "Stop! This is a restricted area and your photograph is being taken. It will be sent for processing if you do not leave the area now."

Clearly angry, Jepps adds his own commentary: "Absolutely outrageous. Camden council, you do not have the power to make my home a restricted area and tell me to leave it."

Jepps is particularly angry because he says there is no problem with crime on the estate – and the latest home office figures show no crimes recorded there for a year.

Councillor Roger Robinson told The Independent the cameras were a response to ten years of harassment and threats against residents. He
said: "We don't want drug dealing and harassment.

"People have been known to smash cars and steal motorbikes. We're entitled to do something."

But Nick Pickles of pressure group Big Brother Watch told The Daily Telegraph: "This kind of technology may be acceptable in a police state or a science fiction film, but it is absolutely not in modern Britain."

He added: "The idea that a Robocop recording will tackle antisocial behaviour and crime is as laughable as it is a total invasion of privacy."

Camden Council Bring Robocop To Crime-Free Estate