cctv hoodlums
At the time when CCTV cameras started springing up everywhere, I thought their effectiveness was being overstated. After all, scrutiny from the cameras could be readily circumvented by the simple expedient of wearing a hat. It never occured to me that the response would then be to ban hats. How can you ban hats? They’re hats, for God’s sake!
It’s a good thing the fashions of the thirties don’t persist today. In those days, everyone wore a hat. You’d need an army of security guards at the doors to a shopping centre to stop every single person and say, “sorry sir, can you remove your hat please?”.
Picture Humphrey Bogart in the The Big Sleep, dashing into a store out of the thundering rain only to be stopped by the attractive young woman working there.
“Sorry Mr Marlowe, you need to take off your hat. Security regulations, you know. Oh, can you fold down the collars of your trenchcoat as well, please? And I’m sorry, sir, but there’s no smoking in here.”