CCTV Does Not Reduce Crime

London Mirror | February 25 2005

MOST CCTV systems do not cut crime or make people feel safer, a "disappointing" Home Office study has revealed.

Of 14 closed circuit television camera schemes examined by criminologists, only one - for car parks - was shown to reduce offences.

Prof Martin Gill, who led the CCTV Initiative study, said: "For camera supporters these findings are disappointing. For the most part CCTV did not produce reductions in crime and it did not make people feel safer."

He added that surveillance cameras were a powerful tool, but not a sure-fire "technical answer".

"Ill-conceived solutions are unlikely to work no matter what the investment," he said. The Home Office, which spent £170million on 684 CCTV projects in the five years to 2003, said the study did not look at the wider benefits of cameras.

"CCTV is essential in tackling crime, particularly in detection."

But Shadow Home Secretary David Davis said: "It's no good having CCTV if the police are stuck at their desks filling forms, unable to respond to the crimes witnessed."