Do we still need video surveillance?

The latest research has shown that just one crime a year will be solved by the aid of CCTV cameras across the country. Since the release of this information the public are in uproar over the excessive use of surveillance equipment in and around almost every city.

A local Chief Detective said officers should do more to make use of evidence captured by the cameras which are practically on almost every street corner around the country. The effectiveness of CCTV has clearly be pointed out with these statistics. CCTV cameras are not exactly the most popular subject with most of the English public. Why do we need them if they are not solving any crimes – Where is the need in this in computer surveillance? Either way the people responsible for implementing these systems have some answering to do as their use is quickly being challenged by these latest figures to be released. In my opinion it is only a matter of time before they have mobile phone tracking hooked up on all of us! OK - That may be a little over the top but it is logical to think that we are living in a big brother society right now.

Recent research has indicated that computer video surveillance has been the most useful in preventing vehicle thefts and vandalism in car parks. To help out with this problem people have been investing money into vehicle tracking devices which radically increases the chance of getting your car if it has been stolen. Yet the massive investment into video surveillance is still an enormous expense with little effectiveness and it creates a huge intrusion of human privacy but does not provide any improvement on our own security. So, what is the solution? What is the value of keeping these cameras in our streets anymore? Should we get rid of them all together? You would think that no Government official would be thinking that the statistics would be as low as they are but then again I hope that they are planning for something to be done. Let’s see what happens..