CCTV Cameras

[Phil Carter]

Hello all,

Just saw a long newsclip on SkyNews about CCTV cameras on the streets of Britain. I must admit I was surprised by the following figures...

There are an estimated 51,000 CCTV cameras on Britains streets. The "boom" in using CCTV has even surprised the police, whose official figure is put at 31, 000.

It is estimated that Britain, with ca. 1% of the world's population, uses a whopping 20% of the world's cctv cameras.

The bill each year for the 51,000 cameras alone in all council or borough areas, is the equivilant to over 4,000 full time policeman's wages. Birmingham alone spent a massive £14million on CCTV.

The question was asked of an interviewee, if they felt "safer" as they are being "watched" almost everywhere they go. One answered that they would feel safer seeing a policeman patrolling the streets.

Are we too reliant on CCTV these days? Do we need more policemen patrolling the streets?

I was wondering, whilst watching this clip, if the criminal fraternity feel more "shackled" by the amount of CCTV, as opposed to patrolling policemen, should they replace some of these cameras? And conversely, has crime decreased on the streets because of the introduction of CCTV?

I suspect, without knowing, that more criminals are identified because of the cameras.. but also wonder if catching more criminals leads to the next problem, the over-crowded court system and then the next step, over-crowded prisons.

I do not know the "correct" answers to any of the above, but wondered what the views are of the rest of you.

best wishes

Phil

[Robert]

Hi Phil

There have indeed been suggestions that the cameras are a bit sinister and intrusive. I think the response of the authorities was to buy cameras to film the cameras.

[kensei]

Well, I think a key question is if the cameras catch a crime in progress, how quickly are the people watching the monitors able to dispatch police to the scene? Of course the cameras can track a criminal as he flees the scene but then his victim is still traumatized in whatever way. More police on the streets would seem to be a better way of being able to stop crimes in progress. Personally, the cameras got me detained and searched in Mitre Square in 2008 when I was on vacation and doing a solo Ripper tour- shooting video in proximity to security cameras was cause for such under the "Terrorism Act," they said. Admittedly, the officers were very polite about it, and when I said, "I thought there were cameras pretty much everywhere" they shrugged and said, "Well, there are."

[Robert]

Whenever I've seen camera footage on TV, it has always seemed to me that the pics are of such low quality, it could be anyone in the video. How they make this stuff stand up in court is beyond me.

[caz]

A double eventer in West Croydon was caught by cctv. He was seen prowling the London Road for a second victim after being interrupted by witnesses who saw him try to strangle his first. She survived, leaving him so frustrated that he found himself a lump of wood and another victim and battered her to death with incredible ferocity.

Without cctv he would almost certainly have gone on to attack more women - and the two victims in one night would be considered unconnected.

Love,

Caz
X

[Robert]

Hi Caz

You mean, someone saw the footage, thought "I know that bloke" and rang the police?

[caz]

Hi Robert,

I'm not sure, all I know is that the police were able to use the cctv pictures to identify him and he was duly convicted and sent to prison for murder. Maybe his mug shot was already in the system.

Love,

Caz
X

[Ally]

I believe this is the case you are referring to:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-6395238-corinne-killer-on-cctv.do

I am with Robert in that I don't think the grainy crappy CCTV are ever really helpful in solving crimes (at least not to the point that justifies the expense). We did however recently have a sex offender who lived down the street arrested because the Walmart surveillance that they focus on every customer entering the store got a dead shot of his face and people were able to recognize him from that. However the ones that the police use, high on a pole that just gives you a blurb, I don't see how they can be helpful unless you cover every single inch of the town and are able to track a perpetrator back to his address.

[caz]

Yep, Ally, that's the one. The killer's name was Leigh Thornhill if you want to find out more.