CCTV Not Doing Its Job, Says Scotland Yard
Latest figures suggest that the recent surge in CCTV equipment is failing to make a significant impact on crime levels.
Det Ch Insp Mike Neville, head of Scotland Yard’s Visual Images, told reporters that CCTV equipment only helped solve 3% of London’s street robberies. He went on to say that officers were often put off sifting through the vast amounts of data to find the incriminating images and that CCTV no longer acts as a deterrent:
"There's no fear of CCTV. Why don't people fear it? They think the cameras are not working."
Britain has more CCTV cameras than any other country in the world, and they are increasing in number rapidly. Their proliferation, however, may dilute the sense of threat to potential criminals, especially when a large majority of systems are poorly maintained.
The views of Neville come a month after EPA called for people to be more aware of the training needed to operate CCTV equipment effectively and legally. Making sure data is well archived and easily accessible ensures that the time taken to find the relevant information is kept to a minimum and if the majority of CCTV cameras are well maintained and operational, hopefully the days of CCTV as a deterrent will return.
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