Global MSC Security MD, Derek Maltby explains why “real statistics” on CCTV’s effectivenes must be gathered and disseminated to prove that surveillance is of massive benefit to the general public as well as law enforcement bodies.
Back in 1993 I was a security manager in a busy Bristol shopping centre. My views on CCTV were sought by the national press after two-year-old Jamie Bulger was abducted from the New Strand Shopping Centre in Bootle and subsequently killed by two juveniles.
Although of poor quality, CCTV evidence from the New Strand showed the two juveniles responsible casually observing children and apparently selecting a target to abduct.
They approached and spoke to Jamie before taking him by the hand and leading him out of the building. That moment was captured on a CCTV camera recording and time-stamped at 15:42 on 12 February 1993.
Until that time, CCTV was viewed as something of a low priority for law enforcement organisations. The positive response of many like me to this short clip may have convinced the Government of the Day to consider CCTV as being totally reliable and irrefutable.
Now engrained into the minds of many security professionals, Jamie Bulger’s abduction is the moment that turned the tide in favour of the massive benefits CCTV could (and still does) offer.
Suddenly, CCTV was the liberator of many hours of painstaking police work that could be short-circuited with the use of well-sited and suitably recording CCTV systems.
Supported by the general public
Successive Governments latched on to this great ‘crime prevention panacea’ and numerous town centre CCTV systems were implemented as positive security tools which clearly had the support of the general public.
Between 1994 and 2003, approximately £240 million of Home Office funding was made available for such town centre Public Space Surveillance systems.
Since that time, though, confidence in CCTV’s abilities has been eroded. The public have become concerned that crime still occurs in areas where Public Space Surveillance CCTV has been installed and yet does not seem to deter – nor, in some cases, even detect – the offenders.
Was all this spending on expensive CCTV just hype and a huge ‘White Elephant’ that could never be justified or achieve its ambitious objectives? We’ve all become complacent about the benefits of CCTV, and those benefits need to be re-energised.
Among others, organisations including Big Brother Watch have cast doubt on the value and cost/benefit of Public Space Surveillance CCTV. Indeed, their negative voice seems to be heard above those who support its use.
Benefits from well maintained and managed CCTV
As a security consultant and specialist in town centre CCTV systems, we know the real benefits to be had from a well maintained and managed Public Space Surveillance CCTV system (among them the convictions and the police time these captured images can make and save).
Sadly, this good work is poorly collated and publicised. Every year the police service can provide statistics of the number of arrests for such things as prohibited drugs possession but there appears to be no such process to measure the quality, quantity and benefit of the use of CCTV and the number of arrests, criminal offences, missing persons, etc identified, captured and convicted by such systems.
Such Public Space Surveillance CCTV data is apparently available on a local basis, yet such information is not generally released to the media and public.
Comments from CCTV operators are usually along the lines of: “After the conviction we’re never told what happens” (in terms of the police or the Crown Prosecution Service and where they take matters).
Until we regularly tell the public that this expensive tool is working and show them the results achieved, doubt will continue to be cast on its effectiveness.
Great opportunity lies before us
‘Justification’ is the buzzword at the moment to safeguard the jobs of many, let alone the proactive CCTV operators.
Well, the opportunity has arrived. CCTV has suddenly garnered public support with town and city centre centre cameras proving they are well-sited to capture the recent riots and the offenders carrying off the loot after the burglaries from High Street premises or deliberate acts of arson and vandalism along their route.
Let’s not lose this public support. Although many of the offenders in the riots covered their faces to avoid immediate identification, police evidence gatherers are able to match clothing and other prominent features with these criminals prior to or after committing their crimes.
The obvious benefit CCTV will have over a ‘Bobby on every street corner’ is that the images will not fade from the hard drive like the memories of the popular but limited recollection of the copper.
The recent riots served as the focal point that has enabled the general public to make a positive contribution to the many hours of CCTV footage. They know these criminals in the midst of their communities and this is their opportunity to identify them from the CCTV images and expose their actions to the police.
This momentum needs to continue like it did in the early 1990s with the positive aspects of surveillance far outweighing the negative.
Real statistics must be gathered
The Government, local authorities, system managers and operators need to push to ensure that CCTV is not just ‘a good idea’ and that real figures are gathered to prove to those sceptics that it does produce results for the benefit of the general public.
Perhaps as part of the Protection of Freedoms Bill this could be the catalyst to render the formal reporting of Public Space Surveillance CCTV statistics and figures as a statutory benefit to support its use?
How about the provision of a permanent Home Office/crime prevention website used solely to identify offenders/witnesses captured on CCTV?
Should this be a more streamlined process across all constabulary boundaries to maximise the benefit of CCTV?
I know we can do more to support the benefits CCTV brings to us all. Let’s not waste the ‘window of opportunity’.