CCTV is bogged down by a variety of factors which directly impact on the operational effectiveness of the system. The appropriate legislation needs to be addressed - Data Protection, RIPA and even the good old planning laws. Each of these requires an investment which impacts on the cost and overall running. Where am I going with this…

To my mind there are two types of CCTV in use today, public funded and privately owned systems and in there lies the problem. The public owned system (local authority control) has a budget which it must set and meet, this needs to fit in with their overall strategy. On the other hand the privately run systems, which are installed in the likes of large stores, and are operated for one thing and one thing only - to protect profits. The motivation to make this system work is financially based and will always win out against locally citizen funded systems.

Also what is the motivation for the release of this story by a Police Source, well look at the job title of the author - head of imaging for the Met Police - what is his problem with the current system. He wants a better system that will track faces in a crowd - I can only imaging that this story coincides with the Governments revisiting the anti terror laws and conventional funding streams were not available unless there is a hook.

Rant over.

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!