Does CCTV work
Posted by Pat Moore
Wednesday, March 10, 2004
On the effectiveness of CCTV. I work in CCTV so I may be biased but I also I see its effectiveness (or lack of) daily. I believe that CCTV can be effective if it is run well ie. actively monitored. In many installations CCTV is passive. No one looks at it and it is only used to look back at a crime after the event. I fall into the camp that CCTV does not deter people from commiting crime. I agree that a Bobby stood on a street corner will prevent a crime happening on that street corner a camera installed on the same corner most probably will not. However a Bobby can only be in one place at one time. If you have a system that is manned then one person can be in many places and direct the resource to the areas that crime is either happening or likely to happen. In the main I am talking about street violence at pub throwing out time. A well manned system can get Police to a situation either when it happens or before it even starts.