Police Acknowledge That Surveillance Cameras Do Not Deter Crime
Surveillance cameras are synonymous with security and preventing crime. At least, this is the common perception associated with surveillance. It is the sacrifice of some privacy for some security. In Britain, where there is so much citizen monitoring that it is called the ‘Surveillance Society’, the empirical data are contrary to common beliefs. Surveillance cameras do little to deter crime:
“Massive investment in CCTV cameras to prevent crime in the UK has failed to have a significant impact, despite billions of pounds spent on the new technology, a senior police officer piloting a new database has warned. Only 3% of street robberies in London were solved using CCTV images, despite the fact that Britain has more security cameras than any other country in Europe.”
link: CCTV boom has failed to slash crime, say police
Recently, a Korean court ruled that surveillance cameras were source of work stress. The psychological literature has demonstrated for decades that the mere observation of an event changes behaviour. Now, after countless billions have been dedicated to video surveillance, the emerging empirical data do not support their effectiveness against crime. Undoubtedly, the surveillance industry will be presenting their own data to counter these findings.
Catherine Forsythe
Director of Operations
FlyingHamster
Tags: court ruling, crime, empirical data, korea, privacy, security, stress, surveillance cameras, uk
Who cares if they prevent crime?
They help ID the slime so we can easily put them away.
I don’t think any device, law, mechanism, gadget, etc. will ever rid us of crime or provides 100% security. For that, law enforcement would have to install hundreds of camera covering every possible public place.
However, even if the suspect isn’t caught directly on camera in the progress of committing a crime they could, potentially, be caught driving down some road a block away or walking down a street close to the scene. It can be used to piece together events too and put them in the area of the crime.
Again, nothing is totally secure–not even public areas under the eyes of cameras.
peace!