Does CCTV Reduce Crime - Coursework Example

CCTV and Crime Reduction Introduction Crime is a disgraced act or violation of a public law. Any act, which goes against the laws made by the government, or any action taken by an individual that goes beyond the boundaries of any specific law is known as a crime. Today, the crime rate in almost every country has reached its heights and not a single individual can be fully safe from any sort of violence or crime. Implementation of crime prevention strategies plays a significant role in reducing the crime rate effectively. No one can be fully dependent on public police security. We must take proper measures on our own in order to become safe and secure. There exist such measures, which have proved to be very useful for personal security. Some of the widely used methods of private security include security alarms, door obstacles, fences, and closed circuit televisions. Hess (2009, p.3) asserts, “Private security meets the needs of individuals, businesses, institutions and organizations that require more protection than is offered by public police officers”. 2. Crime Reduction/ Prevention Before going into the discussion regarding crime reduction/ prevention and using closed circuit televisions to effectively reduce the crime rate, let us get a better understanding of what crime prevention actually is. Crime prevention is an attempt to either prevent the crimes or decrease the level of criminal acts in any specific area or a country. Hayes (1997) found that crime prevention involves design and deploying of protective people, processes, and strategies. These strategies are implemented in various judicial and extra judicial settings. The main goal of any crime prevention strategy is not only to secure the lives and properties of the public but also to eliminate those reasons, which act as the root cause for any sort of unlawful activity. Crime prevention is extremely important for the safety and security of the public. Reducing the risk of victimization is one of the basic objectives of crime prevention. Tilley (2005) found that crime prevention means to reduce the crime rate and event disorders through implementation of effective crime prevention strategies. Crime rate decreases in a country when the government of that country takes appropriate steps to prevent or reduce the risk of victimization by reducing the crime opportunities for the criminals. If we want to reduce the level of crime rate, we must implement a well-planned crime prevention strategy. Citizens of a country should not just rely on the services provided by the public police. They should also take proper security measures on their own to secure their lives and properties. These measures include installation of security alarms, putting obstacles on gates of organizations, hiring security guards from private security agencies, building fences, and applying security cameras like Closed Circuit Televisions to stop criminals from entering private buildings. 3. Closed Circuit Televisions and Cameras Closed circuit television is one of the most effective measures used for crime reduction. It monitors all activities that take place in any specific area and records the images and videos either on a video tape or in the form of digital information. The recorded tape is then used to retrieve the images or video in case of any calamity. Installation of closed circuit cameras has quickly become one of the integral ways of effective crime reduction. Closed circuit televisions have proved to be very successful, as it has considerably reduced the rate of crimes in almost every part of the world. Privacy International (1997) reports, “Strathclyde police in Scotland recently claimed a 75 per cent drop in crime following the installation of a £130,000 closed circuit TV system in Airdrie”. If we talk about the installation of these CCTV cameras, we can say that these cameras can be installed in any location of a building. In the buildings, where these cameras are installed, there is always a person who is seated in front of the monitor in order to watch the outside activities. There is always an increased chance of terrorism or theft if there is no one to constantly monitor the outside activities.. It is more important to prevent the crime rather than letting the crime happen and then using the camera footages to initiate time taking investigations. Therefore, a person should always be there in every building who should constantly monitor the suspected activities outside and inside the building through the use of live images provided by the close circuit television and cameras. 3.1 Use of CCTV Camera in Crime Prevention Closed circuit television is one of the most successful crime prevention tools. It can be installed in any area of a building. It provides a surveillance or observation function that discourages the criminals and stops them from entering the building. Closed circuit television not only proves to be an effective security measure but also it encourages the public to enter the buildings fearlessly because CCTV, installed on entrance of the building, sends a message of safe place to the people. It is due to the installation of closed circuit cameras that the crime rate in public places and car parks has dropped by approximately ninety percent all over the world. For example, in Scotland, people feel much safer than before as they know that the chances for violent or criminal activities crimes have been decreased greatly due to installation of closed circuit cameras. During the past decade, the use of closed circuit cameras has grown to extraordinary levels. We can take example of United Kingdom where approximately 250 million pounds per year are being spent on the installation and use of closed circuit cameras not only in the government sector organizations but also in the housing estates, public areas, and car parks. 3.2 Applications of CCTV Cameras CCTV cameras have many useful applications as it is in use in various organizations and homes all over the world. Root (2009) asserts, “CCTV networks can be used in hospitals to allow nurses to keep an eye on multiple patients at the same time”. Closed circuit television cameras can be installed anywhere in a building. Their use is not restricted to any specific place or a building. Some of those places where closed circuit cameras are being widely used by the people include shops, banks, entrance of the restaurants, public places, motorways, automated teller machines, and government organizations. Newell (2005) asserts, “The primary uses for CCTV systems are surveillance, traffic control, theft, shoplifting, employee theft, and/or robbery deterrence, and identification”. Many retail businesses make use of CCTV systems to keep track of each customer’s activities that enters a store. People make use of CCTV devices inside their private residencies in order to enhance their personal security. Newburn and Hayman (2002) found that the scope of applications of closed circuit television cameras is unlimited. Some specific examples of those applications include traffic monitoring, monitoring in the sport stadiums, controlling vandalism in buses and trains, recording wildlife using helicopters, and monitoring suspicious people on streets. 3.3 Technology Used in CCTV Cameras The closed circuit television and cameras make use of sophisticated technology, which makes them highly reliable and consistent in performance. Armen (2010) asserts, “In a closed circuit TV system, the system uses cameras that are linked together and feed information back to a central control”. This technology is different from a standard open television network because the images are only broadcasted to some specific monitoring screens where as in normal television broadcasts, everyone tuned to the open networks frequency can access the images that are being broadcasted to them through television. Root (2009) asserts, “A CCTV network uses coaxial cable, infrared beams or microwaves to broadcast the signal to the connected receivers”. The components that are operated by the control room include full pan, zoom, and tilt. Here, one thing that needs to be noticed is that majority of the video cameras used in a closed circuit television device make use of a for the purpose of recording digital images. The images are created by charged coupled device chip using small charges of electricity that are emitted when the light hits a pixel. The CDD chips generate thousands of pixels that create the high quality images. The features of camera, which make it go on red alert depending upon the user’s choice, include computer-assisted operation, night vision, and motion detection. Closed circuit camera uses digital video recording that records all types of motions or activities in any specific area. The information processing CCTV monitoring technology enables the CCTV cameras to perform two main functions, which include security clearance and operations monitoring. CCTV cameras make use of state of the art computer technology for efficiently managing the recording and monitoring functions. CCTV cameras record colored as well as black and white images. Newell (2005) asserts, “Surveillance and traffic control probably do not require color cameras; black & white may actually provide better resolution”. The CCTV manufacturing professionals use IP surveillance technology, which helps in automating intelligent observation system. Use of IP infrastructures not only facilitates automation of surveillance system but also reduces the cost and inconvenience of wiring. Some modern closed circuit television cameras are designed and engineered in such a way that they not only ensure continuous recording of high quality images but also provide faster internet connectivity. 3.4 Advantages of Using CCTV There are many advantages associated with the use of closed circuit cameras. Some of these advantages include crime deterrence, protection of employees, and record maintenance. Closed circuit cameras help retail businesses in crime prevention. Criminals and thieves like to find an easier target if they see closed circuit cameras installed in various locations of the stores. CCTV injects a sense of fear in the minds of criminals, which stops them from entering the building. CCTV is also very helpful in increasing employee productivity. Employees tend to work harder when they know that their supervisor is constantly watching them through the closed circuit television. Another advantage of using closed circuit television cameras is that of employee protection. Closed circuit cameras not only help in reducing the external crimes but also help a great deal in reducing or preventing workplace conflicts and incidents of harassments. Employees avoid abusing each other in the presence of CCTV cameras because they know that they can be fired from job if their abusive acts are revealed in front of their supervisor. Record maintenance is also one of the biggest advantages of CCTV cameras because if a mishap occurs in a company, the record maintained by the cameras help in carrying out correct investigations. 3.5 Some Negative Aspects Regarding CCTV Along with many advantages of installing CCTV, there also exist some negative aspects of CCTV. One of the main critics regarding CCTV is that it spoils the privacy of employees. Some employees get confused due to constant monitoring which results in decreased productivity. Another critic is related to privacy of residencies. If a company installs moveable closed circuit cameras, then the monitoring professionals can also look into the residencies of people living around the company. So these were some of the negative points regarding closed circuit cameras but these points cannot dominate the benefits of CCTV cameras. 4. Conclusion Summing it up, taking proper measures for crime reduction is extremely important for the safety and security of the public. It is one of the main goals of crime prevention strategies to reduce or remove the opportunities of crimes for the criminals, and this goal can be achieved by taking appropriate security measures. Installation of closed circuit cameras is one of the most effective measures taken for the security of buildings and individuals. It provides a surveillance function that discourages criminals from entering any high security zone. The closed circuit television cameras make use of a refined technology, which makes it a reliable security measure. Closed circuit cameras have many applications that range from monitoring suspicious activities at the entrance of residencies to monitoring workplace activities in the organizations. Thus, we can say that closed circuit television cameras have proved to be very successful, as it has considerably reduced the crime rate in almost every part of the world. References Armen, R 2010, A Beginner’s Guide to CCTV Security Systems, viewed 31 July 2010, Hayes, R., 1997. Retail Crime Control: A New Operational Strategy. Security Journal, 8(3), pp.225-232. Hess, K., 2009. Introduction to Private Security. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Company. Newburn, T. &.Hayman, S., 2002. Policing, surveillance and social control : CCTV and police monitoring of suspects. Cullompton: Willan Publishing. Newell, J 2005, CCTV -- What Are The Advantages? How Do I Decide, What I Need?, viewed 31 July 2010, Privacy International 1997, CCTV Frequently Asked Questions, viewed 31 July 2010, Root, G 2009, What is CCTV?, viewed 31 July 2010, Tilley, N., 2005. Handbook of Crime Prevention and Community Safety. Cullompton: Willan Publishing. Read More