Is this country the most watched?

[Narinder]

Is England the most watch country in the world i.e. cameras, survelliance etc...?

[JimB]

Yes, I believe it is although I'm afraid I don't have any resources at hand to prove the point.

[Scott]

Sorry if you're being carcastic, but yes. Yes it is. Britain has more CCTV than any country in the world - that includes the US, China, North Korea or any other country you might have suspected of having more. When the debate was raging over CCTV in the 80s it was similar to the debate over ID cards is now. Some loonies thought that while the governement stressed that the cameras were for our protection, would help cut and solve crime they believed that in reality we'd be left under almost constant surveillance with a camera on every street corner and one on every bus. Time has proved that these people who sought to discredit CCTV were completely out of touch. There are now about four on every street corner and seven on every bus. Then again they might not have wanted to alienate people with crazy ideas like cameras all over the outside and inside of a bus. In the UK your picture will be captured an average of 300 times in one day by CCTV. Bear in mind however that if you live in a village in Wales then this number is probably decreased to some extent, as opposed to someone who lives in London where it will likely be higher.

On the subject of spying, I was just on a boycott tesco website with some info about Tescos RFID rollout (www.boycotttesco.com) and this darned Tesco ad kept popping up!!

[Bushwacker]

How much further can it go? Now they are bugging our wheelie-bins! That has really upset the Daily Wail and its readers, who have been incited to rip them out.

[JimB]

[sr4470]

Alex Jones: "15 million cameras in the UK, 4.5 million in London". Not 100% sure which source he used but that sounds about right to me. Each bus has a minimum of 2 cameras, each train or tube carriage has at least 2, there at least 2 cameras at every rail station (no matter how far out in the sticks it is, I have seen it personally), several minimum at tube stations, numerous more at shopping districts, town centres, parks\recreational areas, inside stores and petrol stations, housing estates, the list goes on.

Then theres the potential of powerful microphones that can hear conversations from 300 yards away, sonar\radar cameras and radio frequency scanners that can see through your clothes (talk about being cattle)...

This isnt some big joke, I wish it was but sadly that is the reality.

[Scott]

Source was an article in the independent. Don't have it to hand but I've a K2 like pile of them so I'll have a butchers.

[TonyGosling]

14 studies that prove CCTV does not cut crime
http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/caseagainst/reports.asp
NO CCTV - The case against - Reports
There are many studies that have found CCTV to be ineffective - below are a few:Title Author(s) Key Findings Publication Date

Campbell Collaboration Report
'Effects of Closed Circuit Television Surveillance on Crime'
[ Link ] Welsh & Farrington / Home Office
[...] the evaluations of CCTV schemes in city and town centers and public housing measured a much larger range of crime types and only a small number of studies involved other interventions. These CCTV schemes, as well as those focused on public transport, did not have a significant effect on crime. 2008
Read No CCTV's article on the Campbell Collaboration report [ here ]
http://campbellcollaboration.org/lib/download/243/

Why are fear and distrust spiralling in twenty-first century Britain?
[ Link ] Anna Minton / Joseph Rowntree Foundation
mounting evidence shows that private security and CCTV does not reduce fear of crime or actual crime and might in fact increase crime 2008
http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/why-are-fear-and-distrust-spirallin g-twenty-first-century-britain

The Cambridge evaluation of the effects of CCTV on crime
[ Link ] Farrington, Bennett & Welsh
the Cambridge evaluation is consistent with prior research in showing no significant desirable effect of CCTV on crime in city centres. 2007
http://www.popcenter.org/library/crimeprevention/volume_21/

No CCTV Interim Report on Cowley Road CCTV proposals
[ Link ] No CCTV
Surveillance cameras clearly present a serious threat to privacy and civil liberties and the alleged trade-offs of safety or security are unproven and vastly outweighed by the risk of creating a police state. 2007
htto://www.no-cctv.org.uk/docs/No-CCTV_Interim_report-Cowley_Road_v1_2 .pdf

National CCTV Strategy
[ Link ] Home Office / ACPO
Anecdotal evidence suggests that over 80% of the CCTV footage supplied to the police is far from ideal, especially if it is being used for primary identification or identities are unknown and identification is being sought, for instance, by media release. 2007
Read Spy Blog's analysis of the document [ here ]
The Register website has a worrying article that points out why the Home Office are saying cctv footage is ineffective [ here ]
http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100413151441/http://www.cr imereduction.homeoffice.gov.uk/cctv/National%20CCTV%20Strategy%20Oct%2 02007.pdf

Data on London crime figures vs. number of cameras
[ Link ] Members of London Assembly
In 2007 members of the London Assembly obtained information under the Freedom of Information Act that showed CCTV has little effect on solving crime. The statistics show that more CCTV cameras does not lead to a better crime clear-up rate. In fact, four out of five of the boroughs with the most cameras have a record of solving crime that is below average At that time London had over 10,000 council/police run cameras. 2007
The Evening Standard also had a report on the findings [ here ]
http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/caseagainst/london_cameras_versus_clearup.as p

Assessing the impact of CCTV
Home Office Study 292
[ Link ] Martin Gill / Home Office
It would be easy to conclude from the information presented in this report that CCTV is not effective: the majority of the schemes evaluated did not reduce crime and even where there was a reduction this was mostly not due to CCTV; nor did CCTV schemes make people feel safer, much less change their behaviour.
Impulsive crimes (e.g. alcohol-related crimes) were less likely to be reduced than premeditated crime (e.g. theft of motor vehicles). Violence against the person rose and theft of motor vehicles fell in the target areas in accordance with national trends in recorded crime. 2005
https://www.cctvusergroup.com/downloads/file/Martin%20gill.pdf

Shoplifters on shoplifting
University of Leicester
[ Link ] Hart, Gill, & Livingstone
One shoplifter articulated a perception shared by others, in that he had: "… never seen a camera jump off the wall and nick anyone." 2003
http://www.le.ac.uk/press/ebulletin/news/shopliftersonshoplifting.html

National evaluation of CCTV: early findings on scheme implementation – effective practice guide
[ Link ] Scarman Centre National CCTV Evaluation Team
Given the current paucity of evidence as to the cost effectiveness of CCTV as a crime prevention mechanism, it is reasonable that partnerships have not provided a great deal of evidence on this subject. 2003
http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/docs/Scarman_Centre(HO)-NationalEvaluationCC TV-early_findings.pdf

Home Office Research Study 252 - Crime prevention effects of closed circuit television: a systematic review
[ Link ] Welsh & Farrington
It was found that CCTV had no effect on violent crimes (from five studies) 2002
http://citoyennete-active.net/sites/data/docs/videosurv062011/Crime_pr evention_Survey2002_UKgovernment.pdf

To CCTV or not to CCTV?
[ Link ] nacro
Three-quarters of the Home Office Crime Prevention budget was spent on CCTV between 1996 and 1998, yet a comprehensive review has revealed the overall reduction in crime was only five per cent. A parallel systematic review carried out by the Home Office that looked at street lighting, however, found a highly significant reduction in crime of 20 per cent. 2002
http://www.nacro.org.uk/data/files/nacro-2004120299-61.pdf

Towns on Television: Closed Circuit TV Systems in British Towns and Cities
Local Government Studies
[ Link ] Graham, Brooks & Heery
CCTV may actually undermine the natural surveillance in towns and communities . . . the result may be a further spiral of social fragmentation and atomization, which leads to more alienation and even more crime. 1999
http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/flgs20/22/3

Effect of closed circuit television on urban violence
Violence Research Group, University of Wales, Cardiff
[ Link ] Sivarajasingam & Shepherd
If there had been a significant deterrent effect as a result of CCTV installation then a decline in police detection of violence rather than the noted increase would have occurred. This study provides no evidence of a deterrent effect. 1999
Read BBC News coverage of this study [ here ]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1343363/pdf/jaccidem00031- 0013.pdf

Closed Circuit Television in public places: its acceptability and perceived effectiveness
Home Office Police Research Group
[ Link ] Honess & Charman
page 25; "public acceptance is based on limited, and partly inaccurateknowledge of the functions and capabilities of CCTV systems in public places."
page 6: "a substantial number of respondents referred to television programmes such as 'CrimeWatch' as a source of their information about CCTV." 1992
http://library.npia.police.uk/docs/hopolicers/fcpu35.pdf

http://www.no-cctv.org.uk/caseagainst/reports.asp