I was coming back home tonight after seeing Hostel (a B- slasher flick; better than the Saw franchise because it is more dynamic and even a little gothic, but really rough in places), and I stopped by the Robson Street Future Shop store. As I was going up the escalator, two regular-seeming guys walked up to a homeless-looking man with a large bag and started restraining him.
Now, it wasn't the fact that the Future Shop goons have possibly gotten someone for shoplifting that twisted my gut into knots - it was the fact that those were trained undercover security personnel - watching me at all times. Now, you might think this is pretty ordinary, but as I was sharing my unease with one of the staff, that was ringing up my purchase, another customer service representative remarked that not only not even the store staff know who these security personnel are, but that other large chains, such as The Bay, employ the same kind of plainclothes undercover security.
To me this is terrifying, because I always through that the omni-presence of "bowl"-covered close-circuit video cameras (so one never knows which way the camera points), and the constant surrounding of the customer by the ever-helpful staff (let alone the magnetic theft detection systems) should ensure transparent and non-intrusive security countermeasures, as well as a pre-emptive deterrent (because no one is going to shoplift in front of a uniformed staff member) - but a plainclothes security enforcer is like a member of the Thought Police: maybe he's there, maybe he's not, maybe he is someone who looks like your best friend or your worst enemy - he is the true policeman inside your head, instilling the proverbial fear and loathing in one, on the one hand, while creating an illusion of absence of supervision - and thus, temptation - on the other. This is a despicable, dehumanising tactic. Big brother is watching you.