CCTV: Reflections on Its Use, Abuse and Effectiveness

Abstract

It is a pertinent time to reflect upon the use of CCTV. As some areas withdraw funding from their CCTV systems, others are expanding coverage and upgrading to Intelligent CCTV (ICCTV) or ‘smart’ CCTV supplemented with facial recognition and a range of other capabilities. Since the Metropolitan Police first installed CCTV cameras in Trafalgar Square in 1960 (Williams, 2003), CCTV as a crime control measure has become more complex. Indeed, technological developments have increased the array of possible uses but, at the same time, have also raised the number of issues that need to be managed. This chapter aims to chart the challenges facing the effective deployment and integration of CCTV into security responses. It will discuss the prevalence of CCTV, explore the evidence pertaining to whether it ‘works’ as a crime control technology and consider what the future for this much debated and controversial technology might hold. Although much of the research refers to CCTV, we also discuss visual data derived via other types of cameras and consider the rise of ‘sousveillance’ (Mann et al., 2003).