drydem
2007-09-22 12:40:33 UTC
Keywords: Surveillance Security Public-Space Street Cameras City Urban
Crime
Background:
In the past - in Washington DC - surveillance camera have
been used in retail, transportation centers, government buildings,
hotels, banks, certain office buildings, some multe-unit
residential buildings, and certain major highway intersections.
In recent times, Washington DC's government has expanded
into using public space security camera networks [1][2]
However, a British report now casts doubts as to the
actual usefulness of surveillance camera in fighting crime
in urban public spaces.[3]
Question:
Is there a limit to the usefulness of surveillance cameras
with respect to fighting crime in urban areas?
If so what are these limitations?
Sources/citation/reference:
[1]
D.C. Considering More Police Cameras
-- London Bombings Prompt New Debate on Surveillance of Public Places
Eric M. Weiss. Washington Post. Thursday, July 14, 2005; Page B01
excerpts:
Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) said yesterday that his administration
will look into increasing the use of surveillance cameras in the
District, as part of a study of lessons from last week's terrorist
bombings in London.
The D.C. police department has 14 such cameras, most of them in the
downtown area, that feed images to a high-tech operations center.
Williams said he would like to see them turned on and monitored more
often, and he also proposed adding cameras to neighborhoods, parks,
recreation centers and commercial areas throughout the city.
[2]
Neighborhood Surveillance Cameras Installed Around D.C.
AP. WTOP 103.8FM News. August 30, 2006 - 5:01am
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=596&sid=897178
WASHINGTON - D.C. police are installing a dozen surveillance cameras
in city neighborhoods. The cameras were authorized in the emergency
crime legislation passed by the D.C. Council earlier this summer.
Police say officers won't usually be monitoring them in real time, but
will watch replays of the video they record while investigating
crimes. Installation began Monday and is expected to be completed by
the end of the week.
Chief Charles Ramsey chose the locations of the cameras based on calls
for service, reported crimes and recommendations and requests from the
Advisory Neighborhood Commissions and other neighborhood groups.
Under the crime law, the cameras can be used for the 90-day crime
emergency, but any further use requires further action by the
council.
The new cameras will be at the following locations:
1200 block of Congress Street, SE (by 13th Place, SE)
2400-2500 blocks of Elvans Road, SE (by the cul-de-sac in the 2500
block)
1200 block of Meigs Place, NE (close to Montello Avenue, NE)
2000 block of Maryland Avenue, NE (by 21st Street, NE)
1700 block of Randolph Road, NE (by Lincoln Road, NE)
1400 block of 7th Street, NW (by O Street, NW)
1400 block of R Street, NW (by Johnson Avenue, NW)
3330 block of Georgia Avenue, NW (by Morton Street, NW)
2400 block of 18th Street, NW (north of Belmont Street, NW, across
from alley)
100 block of M Street, NW (by First Place, NW)
3700 block of Georgia Avenue, NW (at New Hampshire Avenue, NW)
400 block of Kennedy Street, NW (by 5th Street, NW)
[3]
Tens of thousands of CCTV cameras, yet 80% of crime unsolved
By Justin Davenport, Evening Standard 19.09.07
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23412867-details/Tens+of+thousands+of+CCTV+cameras%2C+yet+80%25+of+crime+unsolved/article.do
London has 10,000 crime-fighting CCTV cameras which cost £200 million,
figures show today.
But an analysis of the publicly funded spy network, which is owned and
controlled by local authorities and Transport for London, has cast
doubt on its ability to help solve crime.
A comparison of the number of cameras in each London borough with the
proportion of crimes solved there found that police are no more likely
to catch offenders in areas with hundreds of cameras than in those
with hardly any.
In fact, four out of five of the boroughs with the most cameras have a
record of solving crime that is below average.
The figures were obtained by the Liberal Democrats on the London
Assembly using the Freedom of Information Act.
Dee Doocey, the Lib-Dems' policing spokeswoman, said: "These figures
suggest there is no link between a high number of CCTV cameras and a
better crime clear-up rate.
"We have estimated that CCTV cameras have cost the taxpayer in the
region of £200million in the last 10 years but it's not entirely clear
if some of that money would not have been better spent on police
officers.
"Although CCTV has its place, it is not the only solution in
preventing or detecting crime.
"Too often calls for CCTV cameras come as a knee-jerk reaction. It is
time we engaged in an open debate about the role of cameras in London
today."
The figures show:
· There are now 10,524 CCTV cameras in 32 London boroughs funded with
Home Office grants totalling about £200million.
· Hackney has the most cameras - 1,484 - and has a better-than-average
clearup rate of 22.2 per cent.
· Wandsworth has 993 cameras, Tower Hamlets, 824, Greenwich, 747 and
Lewisham 730, but police in all four boroughs fail to reach the
average 21 per cent crime clear-up rate for London.
· By contrast, boroughs such as Kensington and Chelsea, Sutton and
Waltham Forest have fewer than 100 cameras each yet they still have
clear-up rates of around 20 per cent.
· Police in Sutton have one of the highest clear-ups with 25 per
cent.
· Brent police have the highest clear-up rate, with 25.9 per cent of
crimes solved in 2006-07, even though the borough has only 164
cameras.
The figures appear to confirm earlier studies which have thrown doubt
on the effectiveness of CCTV cameras.
A report by the criminal justice charity Nacro in 2002 concluded that
the money spent on cameras would be better used on street lighting,
which has been shown to cut crime by up to 20 per cent.
Scotland Yard is trying to improve its track record on the use of CCTV
and has set up a special unit which collects and circulates CCTV
images of criminals.
A pilot project is running in Southwark and Lambeth and is expected to
be rolled out across the capital.
The figures only include state-funded cameras.
The true number, once privately run units and CCTV at rail and London
Underground stations are taken into account, will be significantly
higher.
Crime
Background:
In the past - in Washington DC - surveillance camera have
been used in retail, transportation centers, government buildings,
hotels, banks, certain office buildings, some multe-unit
residential buildings, and certain major highway intersections.
In recent times, Washington DC's government has expanded
into using public space security camera networks [1][2]
However, a British report now casts doubts as to the
actual usefulness of surveillance camera in fighting crime
in urban public spaces.[3]
Question:
Is there a limit to the usefulness of surveillance cameras
with respect to fighting crime in urban areas?
If so what are these limitations?
Sources/citation/reference:
[1]
D.C. Considering More Police Cameras
-- London Bombings Prompt New Debate on Surveillance of Public Places
Eric M. Weiss. Washington Post. Thursday, July 14, 2005; Page B01
excerpts:
Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) said yesterday that his administration
will look into increasing the use of surveillance cameras in the
District, as part of a study of lessons from last week's terrorist
bombings in London.
The D.C. police department has 14 such cameras, most of them in the
downtown area, that feed images to a high-tech operations center.
Williams said he would like to see them turned on and monitored more
often, and he also proposed adding cameras to neighborhoods, parks,
recreation centers and commercial areas throughout the city.
[2]
Neighborhood Surveillance Cameras Installed Around D.C.
AP. WTOP 103.8FM News. August 30, 2006 - 5:01am
http://www.wtopnews.com/index.php?nid=596&sid=897178
WASHINGTON - D.C. police are installing a dozen surveillance cameras
in city neighborhoods. The cameras were authorized in the emergency
crime legislation passed by the D.C. Council earlier this summer.
Police say officers won't usually be monitoring them in real time, but
will watch replays of the video they record while investigating
crimes. Installation began Monday and is expected to be completed by
the end of the week.
Chief Charles Ramsey chose the locations of the cameras based on calls
for service, reported crimes and recommendations and requests from the
Advisory Neighborhood Commissions and other neighborhood groups.
Under the crime law, the cameras can be used for the 90-day crime
emergency, but any further use requires further action by the
council.
The new cameras will be at the following locations:
1200 block of Congress Street, SE (by 13th Place, SE)
2400-2500 blocks of Elvans Road, SE (by the cul-de-sac in the 2500
block)
1200 block of Meigs Place, NE (close to Montello Avenue, NE)
2000 block of Maryland Avenue, NE (by 21st Street, NE)
1700 block of Randolph Road, NE (by Lincoln Road, NE)
1400 block of 7th Street, NW (by O Street, NW)
1400 block of R Street, NW (by Johnson Avenue, NW)
3330 block of Georgia Avenue, NW (by Morton Street, NW)
2400 block of 18th Street, NW (north of Belmont Street, NW, across
from alley)
100 block of M Street, NW (by First Place, NW)
3700 block of Georgia Avenue, NW (at New Hampshire Avenue, NW)
400 block of Kennedy Street, NW (by 5th Street, NW)
[3]
Tens of thousands of CCTV cameras, yet 80% of crime unsolved
By Justin Davenport, Evening Standard 19.09.07
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23412867-details/Tens+of+thousands+of+CCTV+cameras%2C+yet+80%25+of+crime+unsolved/article.do
London has 10,000 crime-fighting CCTV cameras which cost £200 million,
figures show today.
But an analysis of the publicly funded spy network, which is owned and
controlled by local authorities and Transport for London, has cast
doubt on its ability to help solve crime.
A comparison of the number of cameras in each London borough with the
proportion of crimes solved there found that police are no more likely
to catch offenders in areas with hundreds of cameras than in those
with hardly any.
In fact, four out of five of the boroughs with the most cameras have a
record of solving crime that is below average.
The figures were obtained by the Liberal Democrats on the London
Assembly using the Freedom of Information Act.
Dee Doocey, the Lib-Dems' policing spokeswoman, said: "These figures
suggest there is no link between a high number of CCTV cameras and a
better crime clear-up rate.
"We have estimated that CCTV cameras have cost the taxpayer in the
region of £200million in the last 10 years but it's not entirely clear
if some of that money would not have been better spent on police
officers.
"Although CCTV has its place, it is not the only solution in
preventing or detecting crime.
"Too often calls for CCTV cameras come as a knee-jerk reaction. It is
time we engaged in an open debate about the role of cameras in London
today."
The figures show:
· There are now 10,524 CCTV cameras in 32 London boroughs funded with
Home Office grants totalling about £200million.
· Hackney has the most cameras - 1,484 - and has a better-than-average
clearup rate of 22.2 per cent.
· Wandsworth has 993 cameras, Tower Hamlets, 824, Greenwich, 747 and
Lewisham 730, but police in all four boroughs fail to reach the
average 21 per cent crime clear-up rate for London.
· By contrast, boroughs such as Kensington and Chelsea, Sutton and
Waltham Forest have fewer than 100 cameras each yet they still have
clear-up rates of around 20 per cent.
· Police in Sutton have one of the highest clear-ups with 25 per
cent.
· Brent police have the highest clear-up rate, with 25.9 per cent of
crimes solved in 2006-07, even though the borough has only 164
cameras.
The figures appear to confirm earlier studies which have thrown doubt
on the effectiveness of CCTV cameras.
A report by the criminal justice charity Nacro in 2002 concluded that
the money spent on cameras would be better used on street lighting,
which has been shown to cut crime by up to 20 per cent.
Scotland Yard is trying to improve its track record on the use of CCTV
and has set up a special unit which collects and circulates CCTV
images of criminals.
A pilot project is running in Southwark and Lambeth and is expected to
be rolled out across the capital.
The figures only include state-funded cameras.
The true number, once privately run units and CCTV at rail and London
Underground stations are taken into account, will be significantly
higher.