CCTV overload in London not as effective as previously hoped?

While London, along with other parts of the UK, has long since been smothered by CCTV cameras and other forms of surveillance, a new report put out by the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly suggests that all these watchful eyes may not be curbing crime. Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrats spokeswoman, was quoted as saying that figured obtained in the study comparing the number of cameras in a given borough "with the proportion of crimes solved suggests there is no link between a high number of CCTV cameras and a better crime clear-up rate." Close to £200 million ($401 million) has purportedly been spent on building such an elaborate CCTV network, but this study noted that it still wasn't "entirely clear if some of that money would not have been better spent on police officers."

[Via Wired]

[Invisiblemoose @ Sep 22nd 2007 1:22AM]

If they would pay me $40,000 a year, I'd defend the hell out of a street corner...

[James @ Sep 22nd 2007 1:34AM]

maybe the criminals are just getting smarter now that they know the cameras are there

[Montusama @ Sep 22nd 2007 2:32AM]

Maybe the crimes they were meant to stopped don't "exist" there....who is idiotic enough to do a crime in the face of daylight on the street? The chance of someone seeing you is too high, then again if London is a packed city that might not be much of a problem (I don't live in a very populated city), then again the camera's might just reduce the chances of that happening, so if the crimes weren't happening in the face place, how wold the cameras be stopping them?

[Jesse S @ Sep 22nd 2007 2:41AM]

So, they gave up liberty for security, and didn't get any in return...

Wow, they actually got neither. I'm indifferent, as you know, they deserve neither.

[g @ Sep 22nd 2007 4:33PM]

"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." Benjamin Franklin

[Jesse S @ Sep 22nd 2007 4:34PM]

I love that quote so much...

[Matt @ Sep 22nd 2007 6:10PM]

No liberty was lost - we still have all of the freedoms that we had before.

You cannot reasonably expect privacy and not to be seen by anyone if you are walking down a public street.

[Jesse S @ Sep 22nd 2007 6:35PM]

Have you seen the Bourne Ultimatum? In the beginning, the CCTV footage was from real cameras.

I would call being able to track someone's every move a loss of liberty.

Instead of CCTV cameras, why not strap a GPS receiver onto everyone? Just make it one that doesn't work indoors.

[dimitri @ Sep 24th 2007 10:07AM]

brilliant quote!

[Julian Bond @ Sep 22nd 2007 2:55AM]

They should make them all Webcams. Why should they have all the fun?

[Julian Bond @ Sep 22nd 2007 2:58AM]

Banksy's comment on all this
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nolifebeforecoffee/124659356/in/photostream/

[Carbonize @ Sep 22nd 2007 3:10AM]

I think that this is a misquoting of figures to try and justify something. The CCTV cameras have helped to cut down on such crimes as ram raids, bag snatching, assaults, car break ins and the usual collection of idiocies drunkards get up to. CCTV is not going to stop armed robberies, burglaries etc.

[Alan Partridge @ Sep 22nd 2007 6:25AM]

CCTV only records crime it doesn't stop it. The UK has some of the worst crime rates in the EUand the most CCTV camera (per person) in the world.

[Carniphage @ Sep 22nd 2007 4:47AM]

The report is politically biased. What they are trying to do is make a case that the government is "illiberal" by having so many cameras. The Lib-Dems are against that sort of thing.

Their report says that in increase in cameras has not improved detection rates. But that's not what cameras do.
Street crime is much more commonplace when the perpetrator is unobserved. Cameras deter lots of streetcrime perhaps by as much as 2/3.

Oh and there is no privacy issues here. Cameras record what you do in public. Not in private.

[Adam @ Sep 22nd 2007 6:47AM]

Oh please. Grow up will you.

Why are you all so worried if a man in a dark room watches you on a TV screen? People watch you all the time, you know, London has a lot of people.

And thanks to CCTV cameras it's led to the convinction of 3 of the attempted 21/7 bombers and stopped the airline plot thanks to CCTV survilience.

If the airline plot had succeeded and 1000s were murdered would be complaining about CCTV then?

[Steve @ Sep 22nd 2007 6:50AM]

It foiled a terrorist act - it paid for itself.

[DakStaka @ Sep 23rd 2007 7:35AM]

Which one?

[Dankoozy @ Sep 22nd 2007 8:44AM]

I been to London recently. There are freakin cameras everywhere you look. Even in the little cute villages outside the M25 many of the old buildings there have a selection of cameras attached to them and signs saying "Protected by CCTV".

also I have had stuff stolen from me and in many cases they won't even show you the footage. The cameras are monitored by some anonymous nobody far away - if its anything less than a stabbing or valuable car being stolen they won't go through the trouble of showing you the tape. People still vandalise bikes even when there are cameras pointing directly at them. In many cases they can't see who commited the crime because the picture isn't clear enough or the guy isn't looking at the camera

these cameras won't be used to convict gangsters, drug dealers and thieves but rather complacent people who might drop a wrapper on the street or steal some wifi and admit their guilt straight away when confronted and offer to pay the £80 fine so they can move along and get on with their life.

[Weo @ Sep 22nd 2007 2:24PM]

the only way to reduce crimes is to make higher moral standards, something a bunch of cameras and Europeans aren't going to do

[Big Bro @ Sep 23rd 2007 5:07PM]

"It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could igve you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself—anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face… was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime…"

George Orwell 1984

[Jesse S @ Sep 22nd 2007 10:56AM]

It honestly scares me how Britain and America are starting to sound like Oceania from 1984...

[Zach @ Sep 22nd 2007 11:17AM]

How did engadget possibly get a screenshot of a cctv feed?

[jay sea @ Sep 22nd 2007 4:00PM]

um... from the website that ran the story? try clicking on it.

[Xavier Orberec @ Sep 26th 2007 9:34AM]

It's all about having enough Real-Time Personnel watching and managing those cameras. In the US there are companies emerging out there like Iveda Solutions that begin consolidating all this video information in real time for law enforcement.

[jay sea @ Sep 22nd 2007 2:43PM]

but has having CCTV increased the conviction rate?

[jroc @ Sep 22nd 2007 6:33PM]

Well I, for one, welcome our Orwellian Government spying overlords...wait... No I don't! Who started this crap?

[Xavier Orberec @ Sep 23rd 2007 12:12AM]

Another example of why centralization of this video surveillance is needed. In the US there is a new private organization that is starting to provide Real Time IP Video Surveillance for law enforcement and private companies called Iveda Solutions. www.ivedasolutions.com

[odemata87 @ Sep 23rd 2007 7:16AM]

I do argee that such cameras help for convictions and for this im for it, but however straight forward it doesnt prevent crime overall. if someone wants to kill you camera or no camera they will do it, same thing for robbery as well. I live in nyc and ive seen this done already with cameras right in full view of the action.

[El N @ Sep 23rd 2007 1:32PM]

This is nothing new, there have been several Home Office studies which already prove the ineffectiveness in CCTV.

I strongly recommend the documentary EVERY STEP YOU TAKE for a critical an in-depth approach to CCTV in Britain. I heard it will be on air in UK soon, and also released on DVD. I've seen the film at Cambridge Film Festival this year and was impressed that a foreigner (Austrian-born director Nino Leitner) was able to pull off an extremely informative documentary about such a uniquely British topic.

Check out the trailer, and you'll see what I mean:
http://www.EveryStepYouTake.org

[bunnyhoop @ Sep 23rd 2007 6:29PM]

They probably place more cameras in areas of high crime...mystery solved.