Met blames low crime detection on CCTV compliance failures

01 Sep 09

The internal report released by the Metropolitan Police Service under the Freedom of Information laws states that there are over one million cameras in London. With an estimated £200 million spent on cameras in the Capital to date, it's estimated that each prosecution case assisted by the use of CCTV effectively costs £20,000.

Inevitably, doubts have been cast over the use of cameras as crime-fighting tools, while the critics of Britain’s so-called 'Surveillance Society' have been quick to point out that one crime solved for every 1,000 surveillance cameras in the Capital alone raises serious concerns over how police forces in general are using CCTV cameras to fight crime. Detective superintendent Michael McNally, who commissioned the report, even admits to "some concerns" in this area.

The report was scripted by detective chief inspector Mick Neville - head of the Metropolitan Police Service’s Visual Images Identifications and Detections Office - who found that members of the general public in London “have a high expectation of CCTV, and are frequently told they're captured on camera 300 times per day”.

Publics' patience beginning to wear thin

However, several comments made in the report would suggest that the public's patience is possibly beginning to wear a little thin. Neville states that, on an increasing basis, members of the public are now complaining that officers haven't bothered to view available CCTV images when trying to track down criminals. Indeed, the report discloses a “significant rise in the level of complaints from the public where it is perceived that police have not viewed CCTV.”

On average, there are now nearly 100 instances of such complaints in the Capital every year.

Although the majority would rather the police service were apolitical, this report shows once again how much the Metropolitan Police Service is cogniscent of the political landscape and cuts its cloth accordingly. Apparently, there are concerns at Scotland Yard that the Conservatives could cut back on the number of cameras - or at the very least change the way in which they're used - if it's triumphant at the next General Election, likely to be held in May 2010. Under a section headlined Strategic Issues, the report opines: “There is the potential for a change of Government. The Conservatives are not CCTV friendly. We [the Metropolitan Police Service] need to start showing that we are targeting serious crime.”

There's no doubt public confidence is dented very time the police service states that there was no CCTV working when a crime has been committed. In tandem with this, Neville's report found that untrained officers often download and view CCTV images in their hunt for evidence, but cameras are only ever effective in crime-fighting if the images and information from them is extracted and used in the right manner.

Higher rates of detection and prosecution

According to CameraWatch's chief executive Gordon Ferrie, the report is a clear vindication of his own organisation's persistent claim that greater compliance by CCTV users with both the DPA and the Information Commissioner’s Office guidelines could lead to higher rates of crime detection and prosecution.

Since launching in 2007, CameraWatch has campaigned for greater compliance with the DPA and ICO guidelines among CCTV systems users. Delegates in attendance at any of the CameraWatch Forums over the last 12 months - the most recent having taken place at HSBC's hq in Canary Wharf on 6 March - will be well aware of the problems facing the police service and the Courts in securing convictions with the help of CCTV images.

Ferrie explained to SMT Online: “This news from Scotland Yard does not surprise us. After all, it's what we have been trying to highlight over the last three years. Namely: if your CCTV system does not comply with the DPA or ICO guidelines, is not audited regularly or is operated by poorly-trained staff, then the images or footage will be worse than useless in a criminal prosecution."

Referring to the CameraWatch Forums, Ferrie stated: “The Forums have heard from senior figures in law enforcement and Government on the problems with poor quality CCTV images, poor quality systems, incorrectly-placed cameras and failure on the operators' part to comply with even the most simple DPA requirements. In essence, this means that any lawyer worth his or her salt can tear a case to pieces if it has to rely on CCTV from these sources."

The notion of a National CCTV Register

Ferrie is well aware that CCTV alone will not lead to a greater number of successful prosecutions. "When CCTV is deployed correctly and effectively," he outlined, "it can be a powerful piece in the evidence jigsaw that the police must put together."

To its great credit, CameraWatch has campaigned for the instigation of a National CCTV Register that will go some way towards laying down minimum standards for operating CCTV systems. “If users had to register their system and ensure it was fully compliant with current legislation, operating properly, and recording data in a format that could be used by the police service and the Courts," continued Ferrie, "I'm certain that more criminal cases involving the use of CCTV would be successful.”

CameraWatch's compliance director Paul Mackie said that the New Scotland Yard report makes for "painful reading" for companies effectively wasting thousands of pounds on surveillance systems that look the part but "fail miserably to do what they are meant to do".

Mackie told SMT Online: “In my role with CameraWatch, whereby I audit CCTV systems, I'm constantly amazed at how much companies are willing to invest in the CCTV hardware, but unwilling to invest in terms of time, training and basic compliance with the DPA and ICO guidelines. A simple yearly audit of the system will point out where the end user is going wrong, and what needs to be done to make the system fully compliant. Considering how much money these surveillamce systems cost, it’s small beer to make sure that they're working effectively.”

Neighbourhood crime prevention initiatives

As reported on SMT Online, earlier this year separate research commissioned by the Home Office suggested that CCTV cameras had done virtually nothing to cut crime, and that they had been most effective in preventing vehicle crimes in car parks.

A separate report issued by a specialist House of Lords Committee also said that £500 million was spent on new CCTV cameras during the decade to 2006, suggesting that the monies may have been better allocated for street lighting or neighbourhood crime prevention initiatives.

That theory is certainly one supported by campaigning group Liberty. Spokesperson Anita Coles, the organisation's policy officer, commented: “Being the world’s camera hub comes at a price, not just to our privacy but also to our pockets. CCTV has cost millions of pounds and yet as it’s not properly regulated. There is little evidence of targeted and effective use. In these hard times, our money would be better spent on proven methods of crime prevention such as better street lighting and more police on the beat.”

Former shadow Home Secretary David Davis concurs. "This report should provoke a major and long overdue rethink on where the Home Office's crime prevention budget is being spent," explained Davis. “CCTV leads to massive expense and minimum effectiveness. It creates a huge intrusion on privacy, yet provides little or no improvement in security. The Metropolitan Police Service has been extraordinarily slow to act in dealing with the ineffectiveness of CCTV, something true both in London and across the country. A combination of overdependence on CCTV and ineffective use of cameras means that money from the public purse could have been much better spent on more police officers."

National Police Improvement Agency review

Also speaking about Mick Neville's latest missive, and obviously agreeing with Gordon Ferrie, current shadow Home Secretary Chris Grayling has been quoted as saying: "It's just not possible to fight crime with technology alone. CCTV can help in some situations, but there's nothing to beat getting more police back from behind their desks and on to the streets."

The National Police Improvement Agency is currently undertaking a review into the effectiveness of CCTV. SMT Online will report on its findings in due course.

The next CameraWatch Forum takes place on 27 October at the RBS Group's headquarters in Edinburgh. SMT Online Editor Brian Sims will be a Keynote Speaker focusing on the management of CCTV systems

SMT Online is interviewing detective chief inspector Mick Neville tomorrow (2 September), so check back on SMT Online for the results of that discussion

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