CCTV only effective at cutting car crime

CCTV is only effective in cutting vehicle crime and has little effect in reducing other offences, research for the Home Office has found.

The review of a series of CCTV studies revealed cameras that flood town centres and housing estates do not have a significant impact on crime.

In one city, it only led to increased reporting of offences to the police.

It will renew fears over the role of the CCTV network in the UK, which is already the largest in the world with the equivalent of one camera for every 12 people.

An analysis of 44 research studies was carried out by the Campbell Collaboration, a review body, which found that while cameras have a modest impact on crime levels, they are at their most effective in reducing car crime in car parks, especially when used alongside improved lighting and the introduction of security guards.

The authors, who include Cambridge University criminologist David Farrington, said CCTV should continue to be used but have a much narrower focus, such as reducing vehicle crime.

Results from a 2007 study in Cambridge which examined 30 cameras in the city centre found they had no effect on crime but did lead to a rise in the reporting of assault, robbery and other violent crimes to the police.

However, the Campbell Collaboration stressed that CCTV is more effective in reducing crime in Britain than in other countries.

It said CCTV is now the single most heavily-funded crime prevention measure operating outside the criminal justice system adding: "Over the last decade, CCTV accounted for more than three quarters of total spending on crime prevention by the British Home Office."

Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, said: "CCTV has definitely got a role to play in combating crime but its use should be decided by local communities."

Home Office to unveil first CCTV regulator to take control of Britain's army of cameras

A new regulator is to be appointed to oversee Britain’s four million CCTV cameras.

The Home Office is expected to announce the UK's first CCTV regulator later today Photo: PA

New standards for the use of CCTV images, as well as new guidance to ensure that police use CCTV images more effectively, are also to be unveiled by ministers today.

The news comes after the Home Office’s own experts found in a series of reports that CCTV was only effective in cutting vehicle crime and has little effect in reducing other offence.

Andy Rennison, the current Forensic Science Regulator, is understood to have been given the task of implementing the 44 recommendations of the two-year old National CCTV Strategy .

The strategy called for the creation of a “basic CCTV infrastructure” while also promoting “CCTV and its expansion by forming evidence-based business cases”.

There has also been frustration that despite the growth of the cameras, they are used only to solve a fraction of crimes. One source said: “Police need to make better use of CCTV evidence - they need a more systematic approach to ID suspects.

David Hanson, the Home Office minister, is expected to tell MPs that by the end of March, 17 of the 44 recommendations will have been implemented. A handful of the measures which have been overtaken by new technology are under review.

The CCTV network in the UK is already the largest in the world with the equivalent of one camera for every 12 people. Yet questions have been raised about its effectiveness.

Earlier this year research by the Home Office found that flooding town centres and housing estates with cameras did not have a significant impact on crime. In one city, it only led to increased reporting of offences to the police.

An analysis of 44 research studies found that cameras are at their most effective in reducing car crime in car parks, especially when used alongside improved lighting and the introduction of security guards.

The Campbell Collaboration said CCTV is now the single most heavily-funded crime prevention measure operating outside the criminal justice system, accounting for more than three quarters of spending on crime prevention by the Home Office.

Charles Farrier, a spokesman for campaign group NoCCTV, said the statement on the implementation of the strategy showed that “they are ploughing ahead regardless” of the criticism over the use of CCTV.

But Tom Reeve, editor of CCTV Image magazine, said: “CCTV is very effective to police to investigate crimes, even when the images not crystal clear. They lead to other avenues of investigation.”

Seven of ten murders solved by CCTV

Almost seven out of ten murders are solved using footage captured by CCTV cameras, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

By Richard Edwards, Crime Correspondent
Published: 4:34PM GMT 01 Jan 2009

The first study of its kind into the effectiveness of surveillance cameras revealed that almost every Scotland Yard murder inquiry uses their footage as evidence.

In 90 murder cases over a one year period, CCTV was used in 86 investigations, and senior officers said it helped to solve 65 cases by capturing the murder itself on film, or tracking the movements of the suspects before or after an attack.

In a third of the cases a good quality still image was taken from the footage from which witnesses identified the killer.

Britain has more cameras in public spaces than any other country in the world – an estimated 4.2 million – and a person can be captured up to 300 times a day by CCTV in London. However the proliferation of the spy systems has caused controversy, with civil rights campaigners criticising the creeping growth of a "surveillance society" that is invading the privacy of law-abiding citizens.

A report by the Surveillance Studies Network said that £500 million of public money had been invested in CCTV over the last decade and that during the 1990s the Home Office spent 78 per cent of its crime prevention budget on installing cameras.

However no study had ever been conducted to determine their effectiveness and some anecdotal evidence had previously suggested that they were of little investigative value.

Commander Simon Foy, Scotland Yard's head of homicide, told the Daily Telegraph that the results of his study proved that CCTV cameras are as vital to detectives as forensic evidence such as DNA samples or fingerprints.

Mr Foy said: "CCTV plays a huge role in helping us investigate serious crime. I hope people can understand how important it is to our success in catching people who commit murder."

One of the most infamous cases is that of Richard Whelan, who was stabbed to death on a bus in 2005 as he attempted to defend his girlfriend. The horrific 33-second attack was all caught on camera. Anthony Joseph, a paranoid schizophrenic, baited the victim by throwing chips at his girlfriend and the killer grinned at a CCTV camera as he left the bus.

Uk has more cctv than anywhere else

Britain has become a bureaucratic and authoritarian state watched over by a quarter of the world's CCTV cameras, a study of Labour's decade in power claims.

National debt is running at £175,000 per household, five times more than thought, while each year the Government has passed 3,500 regulations, along with 100,000 pages of rules and explanation.

'The Rotten State of Britain' claims to be the first "deeply researched factual account" of Tony Blair's and Gordon Brown's time in office.

The author Eammon Butler, a director of the leading think tank the Adam Smith Institute, claimed that his book had been turned down by two publishers because of the "unconventional" nature of the content.

He said: "A new form of centralised government and authoritarian government has been created that is worse than ever in Britain's recent history."

Among the claims in the book are that Britain has a quarter of the world's CCTV cameras, the largest of any country and that taxes have risen by 51 per cent since 1997.

Mr Butler also claims national debt is running at £4.6 billion, or £175,000 per household, not £729 billion (£29,000 per household) as the Government claims.

In the audit of 10 years of the Labour Government, Dr Butler says that there are now 1,406 litter wardens and dog catchers who have been given powers to levy on the spot fines.

Dr Butler said he wrote the book because he got "so angry about the way that they have no concept of the rule of law".

Dr Butler found that in just one year – 2006/7 – half of the 722,464 DNA samples collected by the police came from children, including a seven-month year old girl.

One in nine hospital patients picks up an infection during their stay on a ward, while the total cost of outstanding claims against the NHS is £9.2 billion, Dr Butler claimed.

He said that 30,000 of the 200,000 people who die of cancer and strokes each year would survive "if they lived anywhere else in northern Europe".

Dr Butler also claimed in the book that the number of people receiving state benefits has risen from 17 million people in 1997 to 21 million people by 2007.

He found that nearly six million families receive £16 billion-worth of child credit. Dr Butler said: "It's ridiculously high number of beneficiaries for something aimed to help the poorest."

The result is that some families would be better off if the parents did not live together.

He said: "Three-quarters of the poorest households would be better off splitting up. And when money is tight, that is exactly what happens."

What Is a CCTV Monitor?

CCTV stands for closed-circuit television. A CCTV monitor refers to one of the screens used in closed-circuit television.

Identification

1. Closed-circuit television is a system where images from cameras are sent to monitors that are directly connected to the cameras, unlike other types of broadcasting, which use airwaves to conduct signals.

Effects

2. Closed-circuit television can only be viewed on specific monitors and cannot be seen on televisions or other devices that are not directly connected to the cameras.

Uses

3. CCTV monitors display pictures used for a variety of purposes, including monitoring traffic, to show pictures at sporting events, to detect crimes and to monitor the functioning of machines or other equipment in factories.

Features

4. On most CCTV monitors, you can adjust the brightness and contrast to improve the display picture and turn off the equipment when not in use. CCTV monitors are available in black and white and color.

Benefits

5. When CCTV monitors are in plain view of the public, they may reduce the threat of vandalism and theft as potential perpetrators know they are being watched. In industrial settings, CCTV monitors help ensure quality control and productivity.

What Is CCTV?

Closed circuit television, or CCTV, is used in different situations all over the world, and there is a good chance that most people have appeared on a CCTV network, whether they intended to or not. Most retail businesses employ a CCTV system to keep track of each customer that enters a store, deterring theft and vandalism.

Identification

1. A CCTV network can only be accessed by display units directly connected to the network. A CCTV network uses coaxial cable, infrared beams or microwaves to broadcast the signal to the connected receivers. This differs from a standard open television network in that anyone tuned to the open network's frequency can access the images being broadcast. With CCTV, the access is restricted.

Functions

2. CCTV has many practical applications, and it is in use in facilities and homes all over the world. A company may employ a CCTV network as a form of security to monitor the company grounds, and a private residence can employ a CCTV network in the same way. CCTV networks can be used in hospitals to allow nurses to keep an eye on multiple patients at the same time, and they can also be used to monitor traffic at busy intersections.

Features

3. The majority of the video cameras used in a CCTV network use cameras that have a charged coupled device (CCD) chip for capturing digital images. This device creates images using small charges of electricity that are emitted when light hits a pixel. Each CCD chip generates hundreds of thousands of pixels that make up the image.

Recording Device

4. Each CCTV network has a time-lapse recording device that captures the images and stores them for use at a later time. Many CCTV networks are beginning to implement digital archiving systems that store all of the images on a series of computer hard drives, but many existing CCTV networks use VHS tape as their method of recording. With CCTV time-lapse technology, it is possible to store 24 hours of surveillance on one tape.

Monitors/Displays

5. Monitoring CCTV cameras can be done in different ways. In some cases, a CCTV is meant for entertainment purposes, such as the presentation of a boxing match on a pay-per-view network, so these CCTV images are professionally edited for presentation. Most CCTV networks use switchers, quads or multiplexors to keep track of what each camera is capturing. A switcher displays the image from a camera for a few seconds and then automatically switches to the next camera. A quad system feeds images from up to four cameras into one display. The images of each camera in a quad system are recorded separately, but the quality is diminished because they only occupy one-fourth of the screen. A multiplexor is a high-speed switching device that can display and record the images of up to 16 cameras in full-screen mode and quality.

How to Install a Digital CCTV System

When finished with this article you will have a solid idea of how to install and program a digital and/or analog CCTV system for your home. I'm writing this article with a digital 8 camera system in mind, obviously you can adjust according to your specific needs. I've included a list of recommended brands/models for a mid-high range set-up.

Step1

Security DVR Box W/ LockThe first step in setting up a well-designed CCTV system is to figure out where you will view your footage. You have a few options here, you could use your television as a monitor or you could set-up a totally separate LCD monitor for reviewing footage. I prefer to set-up a safe guarded, separate system for recording and viewing. You will plug your 24 Volt AC power supply in at the back-end as well, so make sure you have room for the DVR, power supply box and a LCD monitor. Now depending on your space and situation, you could mount your power supply to the wall, just make sure it's within 2-3 feet from your DVR. Once you have a safe place picked out for your back-end, you need to decided where your cameras will be mounted. When scouting for the best possible camera location keep these things in mind. Make sure to cover all entrances into your home, this includes garage doors and basement entrances. Another idea to keep in mind are possible vandals; be sure to place your cameras out of the reach of A-holes. Mark each camera location with a permanent magic marker, a small "X" will suffice.

1. Step2
   
   Siamese Cables Could Make Your Runs Easier
   Now it's time to run our 18-2 power and our RG59 coax. Only you can decide what route is best in your particular situation, for example. If you have an attic that is easily accessible, run your cable through there. If you have a basement then run your cables below the floor. The attic option is far more efficient and makes drilling holes through exterior walls much easier. When running your cable always start at the back end of the system, that way everything ends up in the same place. To begin with, pull out about 2 feet of each cable, power and coax, and tape the first 4-6 inches of each together with electrical tape. Also, label this set of cables according to the camera coverage with a permanent marker, do this for every run you make. This will help you a great deal in the future when retracing cables for maintenance issues. Run the cables to your first camera location, marked with a "X". Once you have reached your "X" it's time to drill a hole large enough for the cables to poke through the wall, use a 1/2 inch or smaller drill bit. Pull about 10-14 inches of extra cable out through your newly made hole and go back to your back end. Once your back at the spools of cable, pull another 2 feet of extra cable, making sure you can reach your power supply and DVR with the leftover length, and cut them off. Making sure to label this end of the cable is extremely important as well. Now you have your first set of cables in place and labeled. Go ahead and run the remaining seven sets of cable. ENJOY!
2. Step3
   
   Pelco EH35 Outdoor Enclosure
   Once you've finally finished running all of your cable, I know it was brutal, it's time to mount the camera enclosures. Go to each camera location and mount your enclosures accordingly. Making sure to leave enough room for left-right, up-down movement. I throughly recommend drilling pilot holes when mounting your enclosure arm, especially on hard surfaces. Once you have the enclosure mounted to an exterior wall, away from any possible vandals, feed the cables through the appropriate holes in the back of the enclosure. Continue on and mount the rest of the enclosures.
3. Step4
   
   Back Panel of the SDC-415
   Time to prep our Samsung SDC-415 cameras. Pull a camera out of the box and grab yourself a Tamron 3.5-8mm lens too. Pop the protective covers off both the camera and the lens, and screw the two together. Wrap the lens cable loosly around the lens and plug into the back of the camera. Go ahead and do the same to the other seven cameras, now your cameras are nearly prepped. Turn the camera so the back is facing you. Make sure the "Lens" switch is pushed to "video" and not "DC". Again, finish the other seven cameras and take a break. The rest of this install will require patience.
4. Step5
   
   BNC Connector
   It's time to mount the cameras in the enclosures. Take your camera/lens set-up to your first location. Slide out the camera rig and mount the bottom of the camera to the slide via the screw included in the enclosure packaging. Slide the camera back into the enclosure. Now, while your at the first camera, lets add the ends to our cables. First, peel or cut the electrical tape away from the two cables. Take your power cable and split about 4 inches of it down the middle. Now you just have to strip back each wire approximately a 1/2 an inch. Take your hot power wire and slide it into the (+) lead on the back of your camera, using a macro screwdriver to fasten it in place. Do the same for the ground wire. Once your power cable is finished, move on to the coax. This will require patience in order to get it right, and your going to need your crimp-on BNC connector and your pair of BNC crimps. Take the barrel piece of your BNC connector and slide it on to the cable, wide side at the top. Take your wire cutters and cut back about 3/4 inch of the outer casing, leaving only the center copper wire and protector. Then use your wire cutters to cut back about 1/2 an inch of the copper wire casing, leaving the bare copper wire. Snip the copper wire at an angle and slide your BNC over the exposed copper. Then it's as easy and pulling the barrel up the RG59 cable, over the end of the BNC connector and use your crimps to crimp it together. Do not connect this to the camera just yet.
   
   *If your having a hard time making a good connection or just can't get the hang of making a BNC end, check the video link at the bottom of the post*
   
   You know the drill, go ahead and mount the other seven cameras. Make sure to connect power and add you BNC end at each stop.
5. Step6
   
   Samsung SHR-2082 DVR
   Let's go to the back-end of the system. Take the DVR out of it's packaging and position it where it belongs in your git-up. This step is very repetitive, but absolutely necessary. It's time to add our BNC connectors to all eight coax cables. Then it's time to splice our power wire and feed it into the power supply. When your connecting your power wire, make sure to keep (+) and ground wires uniform with their corresponding camera. Obviously, make sure your power supply isn't actually plugged in. All done? Let's move on!
6. Step7
   
   GV-LCD3 Color LCD Portable Monitor
   Time to focus our cameras. Let's make sure our power is all connected both at the back-end and the camera. Go ahead and plug your power supply into the wall. Grab a left over piece of RG59, 3-6 feet will do, and throw BNC ends on both sides. This handy little cable will plug into our GV-LCD3 Color LCD Portable Monitor and then into the back of our cameras so we can focus them. So, BNC cable plugged into the top of the portable monitor and into the back of our first camera. Using the tiny thumb screws on the lens, begin to focus the camera to your liking. If it looks a little dark, go ahead and adjust the (BLC or Back Light Compensation) on the back of the camera. When focusing the camera be patient, it takes time to get it perfect. Once you have it perfect tighten the thumb screws carefully and pop the BNC cable off the back of your camera. Set your portable monitor down for a second and plug your designated BNC connector into the camera. Close and lock the enclose, making sure any excess wire is either zip ties to the frame or tucked away in the wall. One camera finished, seven more to go. Remember, this is critical in protecting your home and valuables, so really take your time and get a perfect picture.
7. Step8
   
   So, you have eight cameras mounted, powered, focused and connected. You have 8 BNC connectors and a DVR at the back-end waiting to be attended to. Plug your BNC cables into the back of the DVR, starting at one ending at eight. Then take an extra piece of coaxial cable and throw BNC ends on it. Make sure this extra piece of cable is long enough to go from the DVR to the LCD monitor you plan on using for viewing footage. Once that cable is made, plug one end into the "out" on the DVR. The other end needs our BNC-to-RCA adapter, then plug the RCA into your LCD monitor. Plug your DVR and LCD monitor into the wall and power both of them up.
8. Step9
   
   Finally Finished.
   Your nearly finished. It's only a matter of minutes before you see what real work you've accomplished. Your DVR will probably prompt you for a few general settings like, when to record, time zone, etc. etc.. Most of the DVR's a pretty straight-forward, so this is quite easy. That's it. Make sure your LCD monitor is tuned to the proper AV channel. Voila! A total sense of accomplishment, security and safety. Well worth the cash, sweat and sheer agony of running wire you invested!
   
   

How to Convert CCTV Cameras to Television

CCTV (closed circuit television) cameras use so-called BNC connectors to connect to CCTV monitors. However CCTV monitors are expensive and can only be used as a monitor. But since the signal is a standard 1 volt signal, you can adapt the connectors to plug your CCTV cameras into any modern television. If you have more than one camera you want to view you will need a CCTV switcher to allow you to switch from one camera to another or cycle through viewing each camera in your system.

Step1

Connect the BNC connectors from the cameras to the inputs on the switcher. Make sure to select a switcher that can accommodate the number of cameras you have. Models range from four-channel switchers up to 16 channels, as well as commercial switchers that can accommodate dozens of cameras (the switcher in Resource 3 is a four-channel switcher), If you have a security DVR (digital video recorder) you will not need a switcher since all modern security DVRs have built-in switchers.

1. Step2
   Plug the BNC-to-RCA adapter into the switcher output. Turn on the switcher. (The adapter has no electronics in it and can be purchased online for less than $5 each.) Many switchers have two outputs; you can use the second output to connect to another television or a standard DVR or VCR to record your cameras.
2. Step3
   Plug the RCA cable into the adapter on the switcher and plug the other end into the video input on your TV. The video in is usually yellow and may be marked "Video In, "Line In" or AUX 1, AUX 2 or AUX 3, depending on your TV.
3. Step4
   Turn on your TV and using the remote control navigate to the video-input screen. Select the correct input according to where you connected the RCA cable.
4. Step5
   Adjust the switcher to the camera you would like to view or set the dwell time on the switcher. The dwell time function will cycle through each camera connected to the switcher, stopping on each camera for the dwell time you set.