Crime Reduction - Helping to Reduce Crime in Your Area

Recently published Home Office Systematic Review and a report by NACRO have questioned the effectiveness of CCTV, claiming it only reduces crime by 5% (compared to street lighting which was found to reduce it by 20%). So is CCTV effective at reducing crime?

First of all, it is important to put this latest report - the systematic review - into context. It is a systematic review of previous research into CCTV effectiveness. Its main aim is to identify the key elements that go towards high quality evaluation. However, while it does focus on rigorous evaluation, it does not consider the quality of schemes evaluated. It includes schemes in other countries where circumstances will be different (indeed, 3 schemes in the US had the least impact on crime levels) and includes some outdated systems (some are over 20 years old) and others which, on the evidence, would not nowadays be funded. Also, the review focuses on impact on crime reduction but CCTV is multi-purpose, concentrating on detecting crime, convicting criminals and reducing the fear of crime as well.

The current investment in CCTV is based on positive feedback from a range of practitioners on the effectiveness of CCTV together with positive findings from numerous research studies. Examples:

CCTV in town centres: three case studies (Police Research Group - Crime Detection and Prevention Series Paper 68 (1995) by Ben Brown examined how the police were using CCTV systems to deal with crime and disorder) 

Crime reduction: Understanding public car parks, crime and CCTV: Evaluation lessons from safer cities (Police Research Group – Crime Prevention Unit Series Paper No. 42 (1993) by Nick Tilley describes the results of an evaluation of a number of Safer Cities schemes)

Closed Circuit Television In Public Places: Its Acceptability And Perceived Effectiveness (Crime Prevention Unit Paper No.35 (1992) by Terry Honess and Elizabeth Charman reports on results of an examination of public attitudes to CCTV issues, including fear of crime)

Findings

Two key findings from the systematic review are:

CCTV works best as part of a package of measures. (Page vi, "Could it be that a package of interventions focused on a specific crime type is what made the CCTV-led schemes in car parks effective?")

Further high quality research is needed to find out more about how CCTV works and where it works best. (Page 40, "Future CCTV schemes should employ high quality evaluation designs with long follow-up periods.")

The Home Office has addressed these points well before the review was written:

As part of the bidding process for the CCTV Initiative all bids had to include details of how CCTV linked to other crime reduction measures in the area.

Example Projects

Here are a few other examples of  the effectiveness of CCTV:

Northampton

Northampton's CCTV system was recently expanded, with £200,000 funding from the Crime Reduction Programme CCTV Initiative, to include Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) technology. According to figures provided by the Partnership, since the introduction of ANPR autocrime in Northampton has decreased by 21.6% set against the same period last year. The scheme has led to 346 arrests as well as the recovery of 31 stolen vehicles and property worth £150,000.

In the first 6 months of the introduction of CCTV at Sixfields Leisure Park car park last year, there was a 40% reduction in theft of cars and a 50% reduction in theft from cars.

Firthmoor Estate, Darlington

£275,000 awarded for 11 cameras and associated equipment on this large local authority estate, suffering from high levels of crime and fear of crime. The agreed targets for the first year of operation was a 22% reduction in crime. However, recent statistics provided by the Police show that crime overall is down by at least 44% compared to the same period last year. Anecdotal comment from the estate is very positive, so much so that many residents are now more concerned by dog fouling issues rather than burglary, car crime, violence, arson etc.

Alhambra Secured Car Park, Barnsley

The scheme was awarded £117,000. It involved the installation of CCTV cameras, lighting and audio help points at the car park. This bid also brought the car park up to the Secured Car Parks Award. Since the installation of the cameras there has been a marked reduction is several areas of crime. Retail property has dropped by 35%, Car theft dropped from 43 incidents in 1999 to 0 in 2001 and Car damage from a high of 28 again in 1999 to just 3 incidents in 2001.

Hull Car Parks and City Centre, Hull

The scheme was awarded £660,887 and has 131 cameras covering the city centre, including all the council's car parks. On the Thornton estate alone it is estimated that cameras have helped to reduce car crime by 80% and shop theft by 70%, saving an estimated £2.1million so far. One comment from a Hull council cabinet member with responsibility for both the city centre and community safety is that it is both reducing car crime and also encouraging more people to visit the city centre at night.