How to make real difference in reducing crime and tackling its causes is always a big debate. Some people think that the best way to stop crime is by introducing CCTV cameras. Recently this debate took place in a local estate and most of the residents opted to install cameras to stop the youth from their ASB and other negative activities (which does include things of the criminal sort). But whats the outcome? Does it really deter people? Does it really work in securing evidences that can be tried in court? Check this article in the BBC today:
1,000 cameras ’solve one crime’
Only one crime was solved by each 1,000 CCTV cameras in London last year, a report into the city’s surveillance network has claimed.
The internal police report found the million-plus cameras in London rarely help catch criminals. In one month CCTV helped capture just eight out of 269 suspected robbers.
David Davis MP, the former shadow home secretary, said: “It should provoke a long overdue rethink on where the crime prevention budget is being spent.” He added: “CCTV leads to massive expense and minimum effectiveness. “It creates a huge intrusion on privacy, yet provides little or no improvement in security.
Nationwide, the government has spent £500m on CCTV cameras.
But Det Sup Michael Michael McNally, who commissioned the report, conceded more needed to be done to make the most of the investment. He said: “CCTV, we recognise, is a really important part of investigation and prevention of crime, so how we retrieve that from the individual CCTV pods is really quite important. “There are some concerns, and that’s why we have a number of projects on-going at the moment.”
If that same amount of cash (to the tune of thousands of pounds) were effectively used in engaging youth, reaching them and employing experienced workers to work on their attitudes and behaviour, there would be more lasting positive effect in our communities.
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