CCTV

CCTV (Closed-Circuit Television) is a means of surveillance by video camera. In Britain, CCTV cameras are installed in public places to reduce crime and make the identification and persecution of offenders easier.

Redeployable CCTV cameras were first implemented in the 1950s and 60s. During the 1980s, stationary cameras became more widespread and widely accepted, with TV shows such as Crimewatch UK promoting them. In 1998, under PM Tony Blair, the Home Office Crime Reduction Programme was implemented with a budget of £170 million to spend on new CCTV projects (Gill/Spriggs 1). In the period before this, roughly from 1949-1998, spending on CCTV had been £40 million.

Problems and Paradoxes of CCTV

The presence of cameras does not always make people feel safer: People aware of CCTV cameras actually worry more about becoming a crime victim than those unaware of the cameras (cf. ibid. x). Despite a decline in crime rates since the 1990s, fear of crime has risen and some even argue that the cameras generate a feeling of ever-present danger. Instances where increased feelings of safety were reported were found to be "statistically insignificant" (ibid. viii).

"Spatial displacement of crime", i.e. avoidance of cameras, was documented to happen as well (ibid. vii), making unsurveilled areas more attractive to potential criminals.

Indeed, a 2005 Home Office Study found that CCTV had "no overall effect on crime" (ibid. 44). Yet, in 2009, PM Gordon Brown claimed that CCTV reduced fear of crimes and the number of ASBOs.

While British Information Commissioner Richard Thomas in 2006 uttered fears of "sleepwalking into a surveillance society" (qtd. in Malanowski 12) with law-abiding citizens becoming potential delinquents under CCTV, the cameras are often credited with identifying and tracking down criminals, as in the 1993 killing of James Bulger or the 2005 London bus bombings.

Further Reading

Home Office Research Study 292

Sources

Gill, Martin and Angela Spriggs. "Assessing the Impact of CCTV." Home Office Research Study 292, 2005.

Malanowski, Jamie. "Big Bother: How a Million Surveillance Cameras in London are Proving George Orwell Wrong." Washington Monthly. November/December 2009.