Photo Credit: Aftermath News

The City of Vancouver, The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) and the provincial government have chosen to begin installing video surveillance cameras in preparation for the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic games, with no guarantees that they will be dismantled or removed after the games’ completion. The VPD and pro-surveillance advocates use a continual comparative to London and the city’s use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) to prevent crime, and the success the program has delivered. The BC Civil Liberties Association has a contrary viewpoint, concerned about the intrusion on privacy the program facilitates in comparison with the real benefits in solving and addressing crime. I think it is time to take a moment to look at some “British facts” regarding CCTV cameras.

London’s 2008 metropolitan police internal report obtained through a Freedom of Information request by the Liberal-Democrats notes that Great Britain has over 4 million CCTV cameras country-wide, both publicly and privately operated. There are over 1 million such cameras in London alone, 10,524 of which are funded by taxpayers, making London the most “watched” city in the world. Yet their crime solution rate is currently no better than Vancouver’s. The average person in London can expect to be observed on CCTV camera over 300 times in an average day. With only 1% of the worlds population, Great Britain has 20% of the worlds CCTV cameras in operation and the 2008 report from the metropolitan police admits that only one crime per year is solved for every 1,000 CCTV cameras installed in the UK.
(more…)