Britain’s 4.2 million CCTV cameras have done little to deter criminals and has done significantly less to apprehend suspects.

Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville heads the Visual Images, Identifications and Detections Office (Viido) for Scotland Yard, and recently stated that the system is an utter “fiasco” and it has only helped to solve 3 percent of street crimes.

Although, Britain leads the western world in the use of such cameras, Inspector Neville said “no thought” has gone into the proper implementation of the cameras.

“CCTV was originally seen as a preventative measure,” he stated at the Security Document World Conference in London in April. “Billions of pounds has been spent on kit, but no thought has gone into how the police are going to use the images and how they will be used in court.” “There’s no fear of CCTV. Why don’t people fear it? [They think] the cameras are not working,” he added.

Which is surprising once fears about a police state are taken into consideration. One would think that the constant fear of being monitored throughout the day would drastically deter crime and foster a more homogenized and peaceful environment.

It however appears not to be the case.

A government issued report last October, states the quality of the footage was too poor to accurately identify suspects. In response to these allegations, Viido has unveiled a new initiative that is to create a database to store footage.

The department is also working on face recognition software, similar in nature to America’s version of CCTV that is deployed during such high profile events like the Super Bowl. The software will also be able to process clothing brand and types, as well as, jewelry, necklaces and other such artifacts.
The Chief Inspector also plans to post pictures and footage of rape, mugging and robbery suspects on the Internet. The main problem is informing criminals that the video system works and is effective, the Inspector added.

In response to lackluster calls for less intrusive law enforcement, Neville said, “This has got to be balanced against any Big Brother concerns, with safeguards.”

Proponents of CCTV quickly rebutted with claims that the system was not designed coherently and that it was put in place in “a piecemeal way” by other agencies outside of the police department. Many of the cameras are installed on buildings, shops, roads and stations, by local authorities and the private sector.

Some organizations quickly denounced the failure of CCTV cameras, such as the Metropolitan Police Service, and expediently added their interpretation of Chief Inspector Neville’s comments, saying that his comments “reflect the need for police to make the best possible use of available footage and exploit its benefits both in crime prevention and detection.”

The Association of Chief Police Officers has also issued a call for better technology and more effective training.

Experts say that this next step in the use of CCTV cameras, coupled with the new database and software systems will be the deciding factor in the effectiveness of crime prevention methods such as this.