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Somebody's got their eye on you
CCTV is fast becoming one of the most important tools in reducing crime and catching criminals. Features editor Joni Ager finds out just how many times in one day you might get caught on camera.
A vital crime-fighting tool or a case of Big Brother? Whatever your views on CCTV, there's no escaping the fact security cameras are everywhere.
Wherever you go, whatever you do, cameras are watching.
The UK has more CCTV cameras per head of population than any other country – about one camera for every 14 people.
You can be filmed anywhere, from the security cameras recently installed at your child's school to beat vandals, to the cameras that read your number plate as you drive along.
They are proven to help reduce crime. Cameras in towns across East Northamptonshire brought about a 26 per cent reduction in offences in their first year and the network is now being extended.
Corby town centre is also reaping rewards from its closed circuit
television. They have helped police make 508 arrests already this year, compared with 424 last year.
Britain has more than 4.2m cameras and research suggests the average person will be caught on camera at least 300 times a day.
You might be filmed arriving at work on your company's CCTV system or as you do your grocery shopping at a supermarket.
Drive anywhere and you're likely to be caught on camera, whether it be a traffic management camera, which monitors traffic flow and volume, an automatic number plate recognition camera, which reads your number plate and checks it for offences such as no insurance, or a speed camera.
Pop into the bank and you'll be caught on numerous cameras, and even small businesses such as corner shops are increasingly using CCTV in a bid to protect themselves against shoplifting.
Stop at a garage to get petrol and you won't be able to start filling up until a security camera has taken a shot of your car registration to stop drive-offs.
Use any cash machine and your face will be recorded.
CCTV is also becoming a common sight on public transport. Taxi drivers are fitting cameras in their cabs to film passengers because of the high number of attacks and robberies, and buses are being fitted with security cameras to protect both drivers and passengers.
In one part of Kettering residents have even been offered free CCTV cameras to install on their houses to tackle crime, so you may even be filmed walking to your front door.
Some see all this as an invasion of their privacy, but for many it offers some form of protection against crime or at least a source of evidence if they do become a victim of crime.
A Northamptonshire Police spokesman said: "Closed circuit television camera systems are a major tool in dealing with crime and making people feel safer.
"There is no doubt that properly targeted and maintained CCTV systems play a very important role in reducing crime, reducing the fear of crime and assisting police investigations where a crime has occurred.
"CCTV systems provide the police with invaluable evidence."
The use of CCTV became much more widely accepted after the murder of three-year-old James Bulger in 1993.
CCTV cameras in Bootle shopping centre caught James being led away by the two ten-year-olds who were later convicted of his murder.
Recent developments in CCTV have included the introduction of talking security cameras. Footage is monitored by control room operators and if they spot someone dropping litter, for example, the operator will tell them to pick it up via a loudspeaker.
Northampton is one of the areas trialling the new cameras.
So what can we expect for the future of CCTV? Some experts are predicting cameras that can do iris recognition and there are even suggestions of CCTV cameras inside people's home amid calls from insurance companies, meaning Big Brother will always be watching.
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Sunday 12 February 2012
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