A 'Big Brother' policing scheme in which officers film the every move of troublesome youths on video cameras will be launched nationwide, the Home Office has said.

The technique, known as "harass a youth", has been used previously to target football hooligans.

Police conducting a pilot scheme on an estate in Essex claim that it has led to a "100 per cent" drop in crime.

Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, praised the scheme saying: "It creates an environment where those responsible for anti-social behaviour have no room for manoeuvre and nowhere to hide, where the tables are turned on offenders so those who harass our communities are themselves harried."

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The Home Office confirmed that the scheme would be widened.

Codenamed Operation Leopard, the project was started in Essex by officers fighting anti-social behaviour on estates in Basildon.

They drew up a list of key youths, with a series of convictions, to be targeted by teams of officers who follow their every move, capturing it on film.

All footage is kept for "evidence and intelligence".

Before the scheme started, almost a third of residents on the Five Links estate told police that they had witnessed a crime or anti-social behaviour. In the weeks after the operation, the figure dropped to 8.5 per cent.

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