CCTV fails where police on the beat works

Home Office research has revealed that CCTV has little or no effect on deterring crime.

Cameras in town centres, housing estates and on public transport 'did not have a significant effect', a report concluded.

This won't come as a surprise to many of us who've thought this for years. One of the problems of CCTV is that criminals can use technology to circumvent it. This technology comes in the form of a cloth attachment to an upper garment known as a "hood". The hood covers the head and makes it very difficult for the CCTV to distinguish the features of a criminal. This device is often used in conjunction with another device known as a "baseball cap" which features a large peak further obscuring facial features.

It is believed that many of these devices are easily available to the criminal underworld through a system of outlets known as "shops" and can often change hands for as little as a pound or two.

Further research has revealed that even when a criminal commits a crime and is captured doing so by CCTV they can escape justice by employing a measure called "running away" completely fooling the police who arrive at the scene ten minutes later - after negotiating the heavy traffic, road works and traffic calming measures that surround town centres - expecting to find the criminal waiting patiently to explain their actions.

It's actually quite astounding that apparently sensible people can believe that a static device mounted 50 feet above the ground on a pole can replace a constable patrolling the streets on foot.