United Kingdom - CCTV helps solve just ONE crime per 1,000 as officers fail to use film as evidence Published on 08-26-2009
Only one crime is solved a year for every 1,000 CCTV cameras, police admitted yesterday.
The startling figure comes in a Scotland Yard report which warns that a network that can capture individuals as many as 300 times a day is failing to improve public safety.
Officers found that the million cameras covering London have helped clear up barely 1,000 crimes. A raider brandishes what appears to be a gun at staff in a branch of Ernest Jones on George Street in Richmond, south west London
A raider brandishes what appears to be a gun at staff in a branch of Ernest Jones on George Street in Richmond, south west London. Police revealed that just one crime a year is solved for every 1,000 cameras in use
Critics say the revelation should lead to a wholesale shake-up of the hugely costly CCTV system.
The senior Metropolitan Police officer behind the report warned of a crisis in public confidence over the use of surveillance cameras.
Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville said: '£500million has been spent by the Government on cameras. Despite this, in 2008 less than 1,000 crimes were solved using CCTV despite there being in excess of one million cameras in London.'
He said that of the 269 robberies reported in one month only eight were solved with the help of CCTV footage.
The study, part of a drive to make better use of the network, follows warnings from senior Scotland Yard officers that criminals are not deterred by cameras because they assume them not to be working.
Detectives are thought to be reluctant to scour hours of recorded footage 'because it's hard work'.
Although the UK has an estimated 4.2million cameras - giving it the world's biggest surveillance network - a Home Office report conceded earlier this year that camera schemes have had only a modest impact on crime. CCTV cameras
Watching you: But with what effect?
Researchers found cameras worked best at reducing vehicle theft and vandalism in car parks even though offending can be 'displaced' to areas not under surveillance.
Tory MP David Davis said: 'This should provoke a major and long-overdue rethink on where the Home Office crime prevention budget is being spent.
'CCTV leads to massive expense and minimum effectiveness. It creates a huge intrusion on privacy, yet provides little or no improvement in security.
'The Metropolitan Police has been extraordinarily slow to act to deal with the ineffectiveness of CCTV, something true both in London and across the country.'
Simon Davies, of Privacy International, a pressure group, said the clamour for more and more CCTV cameras was based on the mistaken belief that they cut crime.
'Police, local councils, and companies have spent money on more and better CCTV systems without really thinking through what they are for,' he said.
'We've been looking at the criminological evidence around CCTV cameras for 15 years and studies have consistently shown they don't really work.
'They have no real effect on crimes of passion or alcohol-fuelled violence and disorder. They don't stop terrorism.
'They may reduce some categories of opportunistic crime such as theft, but they are small categories and the value of goods protected are minimal compared with the huge costs of installing camera networks.
'Britain has spent hundreds of millions of pounds and people have largely accepted the downside of CCTV in terms of intrusion into our privacy, as cameras increasingly creep from the streets into places like pubs and cinemas, and even our homes.
'But it is increasingly clear that the upside in terms of crime reduction is not being delivered. People see dramatic footage on television and assume the cameras have helped catch offenders, but often they just film a crime being committed.'
Richard Thomas, the Information Commissioner, has spoken out against Britain becoming 'the most watched country in the world'. And Sir Richard Dearlove, the former chief of MI6, has questioned the legal issues around the use of surveillance. A Home Office spokesman said: 'CCTV is a crucial crime fighting tool and can help communities feel safer. 'The police continue to use CCTV as a vital piece of equipment in the prevention and investigation of crime and in bringing offenders to justice. 'We remain committed to ensuring law enforcement agencies have the right tools to protect the public, while recognising the need to have a proportionate approach and balance collective security with individual privacy.'
Disclaimer: The opinions in this article are solely those of the writer, and may not reflect the beliefs of anyone at Outlaw Biker World.
This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Home
