Effectiveness of CCTV in Crime Prevention (PDF)

Essay from the year 2012 in the subject Business economics - Information Management, grade: A, University of Cambridge, language: English, abstract: Closed-circuit television utilizes video cameras in surveillance of a particular area using a limited number of surveillance monitors. Almost all video cameras fit in the usage as the CCTV cameras, although the ones used must have high definition for accuracy in monitoring mainly in banks, supermarkets, casinos, airports, military institutions, and convenience stores. In most cases, the cameras function in deterring crime from occurrence and minimizing the levels in places where it cannot stop completely. According to Jewitt (2007), in many parts of America, Europe, and Asia, CCTV surveillance proved one of the best ways of crime prevention as the criminal cases decreased proportionately as more of the cameras came into existence. However, the comfort from their use lasted no long s the people soon went back to the old ways. Old crimes started to resurface thus a good number of people began to lose faith in the cameras. This paper evaluates how effectively CCTV can help deal with the criminal cases with the goal of determining the relevance and benefits of their application and use.
On one front, CCTV does a great job in prevention and reduction of the criminal activities committed throughout the economy. However, paradoxically, there are factors that reduce the effectiveness of the cameras. The surveillance prevents crime to high levels due to various factors. First, the cameras provide evidence of crime hence it deems easier to track the criminals (Murphy, 1999 p. 396). Previously, proving crimes presented some of the greatest challenges to the courts in many countries thus many criminals did not face any charges for their crimes, which encouraged more crimes. However, security surveillance changed the whole game and as long as they installed them on scene before the occurrence of the crime, evidence tracking deems more specific and reliable due to the unity of direction in investigations. In tests for their efficiency, the cameras reduced theft and general crimes in the casinos and the parking lots in the United Kingdom by over 51% thus they proved efficient in crime prevention. The few people attempting crime with the cameras find themselves in court with clear evidence of their acts and mostly get conviction. [...]