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Assessing the impact of CCTV

This report outlines the main findings from 14 CCTV systems evaluated as part of a National Evaluation of CCTV, alongside detailed descriptions of each system. Each CCTV system defined its own objectives, although all the evaluated systems had two broad aims: to reduce crime and the fear of crime.

Title: Assessing the impact of CCTV (The impact of CCTV: fourteen case studies)
Authors: Martin Gill, Angela Spriggs (Jenna Allen, Javier Argomaniz, Jane Bryan, Patricia Jessiman, Deena Kara, Jonathan Kilworth, Ross Little, Daniel Swain, Sam Waples)
Series: Home Office Research Study 292 (On-line Report 15/05)
Number of pages: 176 (45)
Date published: February 2005
Availability: Download full report PDF 753Kb (Download summary PDF 684Kb)

Only two systems demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in recorded crime but there were pockets of successful CCTV operation, mostly relating to particular types of crime.

• There was a large, but non-significant reduction in crime in Area A, which had a high camera density.

• Recorded shoplifting increased in three out of the four urban centres under evaluation and in at least two cases this could be attributed to the presence of a successful Retail Radio system bringing offences to the attention of the police.

• Recorded public order incidents increased in South City and Market Town; again the control room activities could have led to increased reporting to the police.

• Area B showed a substantial decrease in shoplifting around the shopping area; in the absence of Retail Radio, the CCTV system could have acted as a deterrent.

• Northern Estate and Eastcap Estate showed a reduction in burglary and vehicle crime respectively, and in both cases these offence types accounted for the greatest proportion of offences in these areas. In both cases there was evidence of spatial displacement to areas not covered by the cameras.

Where there were initial suggestions of success, any measured change in crime following CCTV installation could not always be attributed to CCTV once other factors were taken into account. Even where simple before/after comparisons showed a significant change, further investigation showed that the changes in crime could be due to changes in crime levels independent of the CCTV system (or to changes in police recording practices).

Summary of findings

Scheme	Crime type	Change in crime	Did CCTV influence change?	Confounding factors	Evidence of displacement	Did CCTV reduce fear of crime?
City outskirts	Overall crime	Reduced	Partially yes	Anti-burglary project, improved lighting, arboretum renovated	None	No
	Vehicle crime	Reduced	Yes	Changes in parking regulations	None
	Theft	Reduced	Yes	None	None
Hawkeye	Vehicle crime	Reduced	Yes	Resurfacing, lighting and fencing upgrades	None	Not relevant
City hospital	Overall crime	Reduced	Unclear	Police operations, poster and leaflet campaign	None	Not relevant
	Vehicle crime	Reduced	Partially yes	Police operations, poster and leaflet campaign	None
South city	Overall crime	Increased	No	Police operations, community wardens	None	No
	Criminal damage	Reduced	Yes	Community wardens	None
	Retail crime	Increased	Yes	None	None
	Public order	Increased	Yes	Police operations	None
Shire town	Overall crime	Reduced	No	Community wardens	None	Not relevant
	Retail crime	Increased	No	None	None
	Criminal damage	Increased	Yes	None	None
	Violence against the person	Increased	Yes	None	None
Market town	Overall crime	Increased	No	Community wardens and car park schemes	None	Not relevant
	Criminal damage	Increased	Yes	None	None
	Public order	Increased	Yes	None	None
	Violence against the person	Increased	Yes	None	None
Borough Town	Overall crime	No change	No	Community wardens	None	Not relevant
Northern estate	Overall crime	Yes	No	None	Yes	Yes
	Burglary	Yes	Yes	None	Yes
Westcap estate	Not relevant	Not relevant	Not relevant	Not relevant	Not relevant	Yes
Eastcap estate	Overall crime	No	No	None	Yes	No
	Vehicle crime	Yes	Yes	None	Yes
Dual estate	Overall crime	Increased	No	None	None	Yes
Dual Estate Area A	Overall crime	Decreased	Yes	None	None	Yes
Dual Estate Area B	Overall crime	Increased	No	None	None	Yes
	Retail crime	Decreased	Yes	None	None
Southcap estate	Overall crime	Increased	No	Youth inclusion project	Not relevant	No
Borough	Overall crime	Increased	No	None	Yes	Not relevant
Deploy estate	Overall crime	Increased	No	None	None	No

Case Studies

The following case studies evaluate the effectiveness of 3 CCTV schemes:

• South city

• Hawkeye

• Northern estate

Further Information

You can download the full report PDF 753Kb or download the summary PDF 684Kb from the Home Office Research Development & Statistics website.

Details of the case studies have also been added to the Ideas Exchange on this website.

You can also view a separate report that details the methods used to assess these diverse projects.

Last update: Wednesday, September 20, 2006