Big Brother Watch has today released our first researched report, into the number of CCTV cameras operated by councils in the UK (generated by Freedom of Information requests we submitted to every council in the country).
The result we’ve discovered – council-run CCTV has trebled in the last ten years. That’s working off a high base, too – a decade ago, people were already alarmed by the extent to which we were being watched, and the network has trebled since then.
I care about this because CCTV cameras are not good in and of themselves. To be worth paying for, they have to help to prevent or help to detect crime. If they don't do either, then they are worse than useless - people feel a false sense of security because of them, policing techniques are becoming increasingly reliant on them, and they cost a lot.
Cameras are often turned off or not working, as recently happened in an unpleasant beating in Somerset. This is much worse than them simply not being there, as law enforcement becomes dependent on an unreliable resource.
When the cameras aren’t turned off and are actually working, often the footage is “scrubbed” before any investigation retrieves it. When the cameras are working, switched on, pointing in the right direction and the footage is actually retrieved, the quality of footage is often such that it doesn’t satisfy the standard required for productive use in court.
Research indicates that crime is not driven down by the presence of CCTV as confirmed by London’s Metropolitan Police report this year, which stated that one crime per year was solved per thousand cameras. And of course, CCTV seeks to solve crimes after the fact – a policeman on the street is much more likely to deter it before it happens.
I’m not a Luddite. Technology has a role to play in law enforcement. But the public purse offers finite resources, and money spent in this way is money that cannot be spent on other forms of policing, such as officers on the street. It’s a question of proportion: CCTV is now the single most heavily-funded crime prevention measure operating outside the criminal justice system, accounting for more than three quarters of spending on crime prevention by the Home Office. We ought to learn from the fact that we’re the only country that’s gone so far down this path. The Shetland Islands has more CCTV cameras than San Francisco Police Department.
Those who support CCTV sometimes make the mistake of focusing on the specific case which might have been assisted by CCTV and say, there – it’s all worth it. Of course, that overlooks the millions of man-hours and millions of pounds that might better be spent elsewhere in law enforcement.
Finally, there are obvious privacy issues which usually go ignored, but shouldn’t. People are increasingly concerned by the capture and retention of the images of innocent people without their consent.
Of course, our report doesn’t reflect the large number of cameras held by others – by Transport for London, by Government ministries, or in private hands. But it’s a start – a significant one, we hope – in developing a genuine and accurate picture of the extent to which we are being watched.
Please have a look at the report and let us know what you think. Have a look for your own area, and see what your council’s figure is…