Guidance on the Evaluation of CCTV Schemes
Evaluation Guidance
A comprehensive evaluation of your CCTV scheme is a requirement of your bid for Home Office funding. This document is designed to assist you with your evaluation, giving examples of the type of information you should be looking to collect, ways in which to do this and what to consider once the information has been collected. It can be used as a basis for the design of evaluation tailored to your particular scheme.
Evaluation should be an integral part of setting up your CCTV scheme and not simply picked up at the end of a project. The evaluation activities suggested in this document are to be considered at each stage of the scheme; from set-up, through implementation to completion and review.
The scale of the evaluation should reflect the scheme itself, for instance a small, financially modest scheme would not be expected to complete a costly large-scale evaluation.
The document is split into three sections:
What difference has the scheme made? This is tied strongly to the aims and objectives you set for the scheme as well as the technical and operational capabilities (and limitations) of the scheme. The impact of the scheme should be measurable as far as possible, so the set-up stage may require consideration of targets and the collection of baseline data relevant to the scheme's specific aims and objectives. This section raises the questions that your evaluation should aim to answer.
How do you know whether it makes a difference? The evaluation should be evidence-based, including measurements, exemplar materials, and records wherever possible. This section suggests the kind of evidence that can be gathered prior to implementation and at suitable stages once the scheme is up and running.
Was it worth it? At a suitable time, perhaps one year after the implementation of the scheme, you will need to take stock and review. This section gives details of different areas that should be considered to determine the outcome of the evaluation, looking at the different aspects of the scheme and of the evaluation itself. At this stage you should consider any implementation problems and how they were resolved, the cost-effectiveness of the scheme and how your experience might inform future evaluations.
It is crucial that the context is considered so that it is clear what effects were as a result of CCTV and what might have happened anyway. The context will also determine how transferable a particular approach might be to a different situation.
Download the evaluation document.
Last update: Thursday, September 14, 2006