Ceci n’est pas une caméra vidéo

This sign greets the visitor at the entrance of Hulda Crooks Park in Loma Linda, California:

Now, as we’ll see in future No No Project entries, video surveillance is the new black when it comes to municipal law enforcement.

It’s what’s known in military and police parlance as a force multiplier—a tool that multiplies the effective strength of a given unit. Having a police-monitored camera like this one enables the operator to keep an eye on multiple places without having expensive police officers all over the place.

The police love this stuff. Easily frightened people also love it, but we won’t get into the ethical and societal problems that constant surveillance raises. I would just like to point out one thing:

I have a couple of reactions here.

1. If your icon is so poorly designed that it requires a label plastered on it letting us know what the icon is, the icon has failed. QED.
2. Isn’t the identification of the icon obvious by the fact that the rest of the sign is warning us about a video camera?

If you’re going to go the Big Brother route, at least make it a friendly dystopian intrusion like at next-door Redlands’ Prospect Park:

Now doesn’t that make you feel better?