No CCTV - campaigning against camera surveillance in the uk and beyond
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UK state makes play for ''law breaking powers'' - To get an understanding of how this situation has come about we need to look at the language used in the laws of war and see how it has made its way into the language of freedoms... more...

''Proportionality'' used to rubber-stamp mass surveillance - How did we get to a place where the police do not consider subjecting members of the public to automated police line-ups as disrespectful of a person's individual rights and freedoms?... more...

Mass Surveillance & the Dark Web of Pick'n'Mix Law - the story of how Johnson was able to sign away the liberties of millions of drivers in London illustrates the rise of a new administrative despotism... more...

New mass surveillance database and 1984 action day - It's time to start speaking out against this covert and insidious destruction of our basic inalienable right to be let alone... more...

The silent increase in London's mass surveillance network, one year on... - At the time no-one seems to have noticed. One year on the sound of silence is still deafening.... more...

Magna Carta - our ancestors never imagined we would stop short - It was only to exhibit to their children the means that made them free, that they left this memorial to after ages... more...

When The Language Of Freedom dies, Freedom Dies With It - It is through language that we communicate and understand concepts such as freedom... more...

Orwell's warnings as relevant as ever - It is only through our own actions that we can effect a change to thinking in our societies... more...

CCTV Looking Out For Them Not You - the Home Office told local authorities to talk up any apparent successes of CCTV... more...

8th June 2014 - Time For Big Brother to Retire - We are living in the dystopian world of '1984' now. But we can change it.... more...

Body cameras - The 5 Laws of FFUCams - it might be true that the camera never lies, but who operates the camera?... more...

The Manufacture of ''Surveillance by Consent'' part 2 - what happens when the whole state and its every function become one massive security service... more...

International Group condemns Facewatch - ''Facewatch forms part of a ubiquitous surveillance culture that spreads fear and distrust''... more...

Landmark CCTV case in Australia - Mr Bonner's tribunal victory is a timely reminder that a meaningful debate is long over due... more...

The Manufacture of ''Surveillance by Consent'' - a trojan horse has been snuck into every public space in England and Wales... more...

New CCTV Code Consultation - proposed code creates a truly Orwellian definition of 'surveillance by consent'... more...

Canadian Privacy Commissioner Hits Out At ANPR - Should not be used to track the movements of law abiding motorists... more...

Government appoints CCTV yes man ... again - No CCTV warned in 2009 that more regulation is not the answer and we issue that same warning again today... more...

Open letter to UK Surveillance Regulators - A healthy society depends on the law-abiding majority being respected and trusted as they go about their daily lives... more...

Where to mate? 1984 please - Taxi cameras are part of a growing ''just in case'' mentality that treats everyone as suspects... more...

London Cameras - No connection between cameras and clear up rate

In 2007 members of the London Assembly obtained information about surveillance cameras in the London boroughs under the Freedom of Information Act. They also obtained crime clear up rates for each of the boroughs. The data shows that CCTV has little effect on solving crime.

These findings are contrary to what Assistant Chief Constable Nick Gargan of Thames Valley Police told the House of Lords Constitution Committee in January 2008. Gargan said:

"The principal measure of effectiveness as far as the Police Service is concerned is in relation to the support of the investigative process. [...] Interestingly, there is very little academic research on the effectiveness and usefulness of CCTV in the investigation of crime, most of it is focused on does it reduce crime, not what is the impact of it in terms of investigating crime."

The statistics show that more CCTV cameras don't lead to a better crime clear-up rate. This is best illustrated when the figures are plotted as a graph (see below) which shows that there is no linear dependence between the number of cameras and percentage of clear-up.
London has over 10,000 state run cameras.


Graph of number of cameras vs. percentage crime clear up rate
(Prepared by No CCTV using the figures obtained by the Greater London Assembly)

View the complete figures obtained by the GLA.
Read the Evening Standard report on the findings