Research conducted by Big Brother Watch - the new campaign fighting intrusions on privacy and protecting liberties - reveals that in less than 10 years the number of CCTV cameras controlled by local councils has risen from 21,000 to 60,000

Top lines from the research (full breakdown by local authority available here) include:

• There are currently at least 59,753 CCTV cameras controlled by 418 local authorities in Britain, up from 21,000 in 1999
• This equates to 1 council owned CCTV camera for every 1000 people in the country
• Portsmouth and Nottinghamshire Councils are in control of the most CCTV cameras with 1,454 each
• Residents in the Outer Hebrides are the most watched people in the UK with 8.3 CCTV cameras controlled by the council for every 1000 people. Portsmouth has the second highest number of CCTV cameras per 1000 people with 7.8
• The council controlling the highest number of CCTV cameras in Scotland is Fife with 1350 cameras
• The council in Wales controlling the highest number of CCTV cameras is Swansea with 326 cameras
• The council controlling the highest number of CCTV cameras in Northern Ireland is Belfast with 400 cameras
• The total number of CCTV cameras controlled by councils in London is 8,815, which equals 1.3 CCTV cameras for every 1000 people living in the capital. Wandsworth is the most watched borough in London with 1113 CCTV cameras, or 4.3 cameras for every 1000 residents.

Research conducted by Big Brother Watch - the new campaign fighting intrusions on privacy and protecting liberties - has revealed that Britain’s local councils are currently in control of 59,753 CCTV cameras. When a similar study was conducted 10 years ago, the authors found there were approximately 21,000 cameras in just 86% of local authorities; which equates to a rise of 279 per cent in under a decade.

Big Brother Is Watching is the first report by Big Brother Watch bringing together the various arguments against CCTV and placing them alongside a definitive list of the number of CCTV cameras operated by Britain’s 428 local authorities, to establish the full extent of Britain’s local authority controlled surveillance.

Alex Deane, Director of Big Brother Watch, said:

“Local councils across Britain are creating enormous networks of CCTV surveillance at great expense, but the evidence for the ability of CCTV to deter or solve crimes is sketchy at best. The quality of footage is frequently too poor to be used in courts, the cameras are often turned off to save money and control rooms are rarely manned 24-hours-a-day. With crime on the increase, it is understandable that some people want more CCTV, but we would all feel safer with more police on the beat, there would be fewer crimes and those crimes that do occur would be solved faster.”

To read the full report, which includes detailed information on every local authority, please click here.

We are very pleased to announce that the National Policing Improvement Agency has agreed that the newly appointed CCTV Regulator, Andy Rennison, who will head up the Oversight Body (which enables the current National CCTV Strategy Board to become more delivery focused) will be the keynote speaker at the Global MSC Security Seminar which is being held in conjunction with Safer South Gloucestershire and Safer Bristol on 9^th March 2010 at the Bristol Royal Marriott Hotel.

You can download the Home Office Press Release regarding the appointment here

(Picture left: Andy Rennison)

The Home Office is expected to announce the UK’s first CCTV regulator later today.

New standards for the use of CCTV images, as well as new guidance to ensure that police use CCTV images more effectively, are also to be unveiled by ministers today.

The news comes after the Home Office’s own experts found in a series of reports that CCTV was only effective in cutting vehicle crime and has little effect in reducing other offence.

Andy Rennison, the current Forensic Science Regulator, is understood to have been given the task of implementing the 44 recommendations of the two-year old National CCTV Strategy .

The strategy called for the creation of a “basic CCTV infrastructure” while also promoting “CCTV and its expansion by forming evidence-based business cases”.

There has also been frustration that despite the growth of the cameras, they are used only to solve a fraction of crimes. One source said: “Police need to make better use of CCTV evidence - they need a more systematic approach to ID suspects.

David Hanson, the Home Office minister, is expected to tell MPs that by the end of March, 17 of the 44 recommendations will have been implemented. A handful of the measures which have been overtaken by new technology are under review.

The CCTV network in the UK is already the largest in the world with the equivalent of one camera for every 12 people. Yet questions have been raised about its effectiveness.

Earlier this year research by the Home Office found that flooding town centres and housing estates with cameras did not have a significant impact on crime. In one city, it only led to increased reporting of offences to the police.

An analysis of 44 research studies found that cameras are at their most effective in reducing car crime in car parks, especially when used alongside improved lighting and the introduction of security guards.

The Campbell Collaboration said CCTV is now the single most heavily-funded crime prevention measure operating outside the criminal justice system, accounting for more than three quarters of spending on crime prevention by the Home Office.

Charles Farrier, a spokesman for campaign group NoCCTV, said the statement on the implementation of the strategy showed that “they are ploughing ahead regardless” of the criticism over the use of CCTV.

But Tom Reeve, editor of CCTV Image magazine, said: “CCTV is very effective to police to investigate crimes, even when the images not crystal clear. They lead to other avenues of investigation.”

Global MSC Security’s Derek Maltby and David Sweetland were invited to Zurich in Switzerland as guests of Siemens Building Technologies to see a demonstration of their new Siveillance system.

Whilst there, the guys braved the minus 5 degree temperatures and foot deep snow to view demonstrations of the latest management GUI that cross references actions and allocates resources automatically (as well as sampling some of the local customs and culinary delights!)

(left: David and Derek with Alpine Horns!)