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Aug 25, 2009
1thousand CCTVs to solve 1 crime
The report found that the public 'have a high expectation of CCTV and are frequently told they are captured on camera 300 times per day'. -- ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW
LONDON - FEWER than one crime is solved by every 1,000 closed circuit television cameras, the Metropolitan Police, Britain's biggest police force, has admitted.
The London Telegraph on Tuesday reported that each case helped by the use of CCTV effectively costs £20,000 to detect, according to Met figures.
Critics of Britain's so-called 'surveillance society' said it raised serious concerns over how police forces used CCTV cameras to fight crime. �
Britain is one of the most monitored countries in the world, with an estimated four million cameras nationwide, said The Telegraph.
An internal report released by the Metropolitan Police under Freedom of Information laws disclosed that more than one million of these are in London alone. But it cast doubt on the use of the cameras as a crime fighting tool.
It said: 'For every 1,000 cameras in London, less than one crime is solved per year.'
The report found that the public 'have a high expectation of CCTV and are frequently told they are captured on camera 300 times per day'.
Public confidence was dented when the police often stated there was no CCTV working when a crime has been committed, it said.
It also said that increasingly members of the public were complaining that officers had not bothered to view available CCTV images when trying to track down criminals.
It disclosed a 'significant rise in the level of complaints from the public, where it is perceived that police have not viewed CCTV. This is now approaching 100 per year.'
A report by a House of Lords committee also said that £500million was spent on new cameras in the 10 years to 2006, money which could have been spent on street lighting or neighbourhood crime prevention initiatives, said The Telegraph.
A large proportion of the cash has been In London, where an estimated £200 million so far has been spent on the cameras. This suggests that each crime has cost £20,000 to detect.
Britain has 1 per cent of the world's population but around 20 per cent of its CCTV cameras - which works out as the equivalent of one for every 14 people, according to The Telegraph.
Aug 25, 2009
1thousand CCTVs to solve 1 crime
The report found that the public 'have a high expectation of CCTV and are frequently told they are captured on camera 300 times per day'. -- ST PHOTO: STEPHANIE YEOW
LONDON - FEWER than one crime is solved by every 1,000 closed circuit television cameras, the Metropolitan Police, Britain's biggest police force, has admitted.
The London Telegraph on Tuesday reported that each case helped by the use of CCTV effectively costs £20,000 to detect, according to Met figures.
Critics of Britain's so-called 'surveillance society' said it raised serious concerns over how police forces used CCTV cameras to fight crime. �
Britain is one of the most monitored countries in the world, with an estimated four million cameras nationwide, said The Telegraph.
An internal report released by the Metropolitan Police under Freedom of Information laws disclosed that more than one million of these are in London alone. But it cast doubt on the use of the cameras as a crime fighting tool.
It said: 'For every 1,000 cameras in London, less than one crime is solved per year.'
The report found that the public 'have a high expectation of CCTV and are frequently told they are captured on camera 300 times per day'.
Public confidence was dented when the police often stated there was no CCTV working when a crime has been committed, it said.
It also said that increasingly members of the public were complaining that officers had not bothered to view available CCTV images when trying to track down criminals.
It disclosed a 'significant rise in the level of complaints from the public, where it is perceived that police have not viewed CCTV. This is now approaching 100 per year.'
A report by a House of Lords committee also said that £500million was spent on new cameras in the 10 years to 2006, money which could have been spent on street lighting or neighbourhood crime prevention initiatives, said The Telegraph.
A large proportion of the cash has been In London, where an estimated £200 million so far has been spent on the cameras. This suggests that each crime has cost £20,000 to detect.
Britain has 1 per cent of the world's population but around 20 per cent of its CCTV cameras - which works out as the equivalent of one for every 14 people, according to The Telegraph.