Is CCTV working The effectiveness of CCTV and the British experience

1
Is CCTV working? The effectiveness of CCTV and
the British experience

• Professor Martin Gillm.gill_at_perpetuitygroup.com

2
Martin Gill

• Director of PRCI
• Professor of Criminology at the University of
  Leicester
• 11 Books and over 100 articles
• Fellow of The Security Institute, member of ASIS
  International, RSMF, Security Guild

3
Our Objectives

• To undertake top quality research work
• To provide practical outputs for those working at
  the sharp end
• To give advice and recommendations based on
  evidence
• To conduct first class evaluations

4
Our Research

• Are security guards effective?
• What drives illicit markets?
• What causes indiscipline in schools?
• How do shop thieves steal?
• Are robberies preventable?
• What causes false alarms?
• Does CCTV work?

5
What is CCTV

• How does a CCTV system work?
• Analogue versus digital
• Fixed, redeployable, mobile
• Open, closed, covert
• Static and pan, tilt, zoom
• How are images transferred?

6
Where is CCTV located?

• Cities and towns
• Car parks
• Within and outside organisations
• Residential areas
• Within private homes

7
How is CCTV implemented

• Bidding for money, how many cameras?
• Project management
• Engaging stakeholders
• Third parties
• Design and technology

8
The Control Room

• What is a control room?
• How are images assessed?
• Monitoring behaviour Where are control rooms
  located?
• How do they operate?
• Who controls them?
• How are images managed?

9
Issues and CCTV

• Technology
• Civil liberties
• Public support
• Police support

10
Research on CCTV

• Most focus has been on static systems
• Previous research is often weak
• Concerns about methodologies used
• Conclusions inconclusive
• Most optimism is for CCTV in car parks

11
New Ways of looking at what works

• Understand the offenders perspective, originally
  robbers now other thieves
• Prison based interviews
• Focus groups
• Simulating thefts and conducting penetration
  tests
• Experimental designs and realist evaluations

12
Pinhole Camera

• A pinhole camera is attached to shop thieves and
  they are then sent off around stores to simulate
  thefts
• The pictures provide a thiefs eye view of
  situations and how they can be exploited
• The thieves provide a commentary explaining how
  they are able to circumvent security loopholes

13
Assessing risk

• Our aim has been to develop a better method of
  assessing risk by looking at offenders risk
  assessment
• Understanding what measures work in what
  circumstances is crucial
• Understanding the reasons why is important

14
How do offenders assess risk?

• Consider the various points they may make
  decisions at
• Consider why they do so and the decisions
  affecting them
• Develop a response

15
Assessing Impact

• What is CCTV supposed to impact on and why?
• Understanding Context, Mechanism and Outcome

16
Proposed mechanisms by which CCTV may impact on
theft

• 1. CCTV may give staff more confidence to
  approach suspects
• 2. CCTV may decrease staff vigilance as they
  begin to rely on it
• 3. CCTV may be used as a management tool to
  increase customer satisfaction
• 4. CCTV may allow the effective deployment of
  staff to areas where suspicious behaviour is
  occurring

17
Mechanisms

• 5. CCTV may aid identification of trouble spots
  within a store or community
• 6. CCTV may cause an increased actual rate of
  being caught
• 7. CCTV pictures may be used as evidence for
  prosecution of offenders
• 8. CCTV may decrease sales if customers dislike a
  stores surveillance

18
Mechanisms

• 9. CCTV may increase sales if customers feel that
  the store is and safe and secure place to shop.
  Similarly with town and city centres
• 10. CCTV may cause an increased perceived risk of
  being caught
• 11. The offender may move to other areas of the
  store where they feel they are less visible to
  the CCTV
• 12. The presence of signs advertising CCTV
  operation symbolise efforts to take crime
  seriously and may influence the offenders
  perceptions of risk

19
CCTV Effectiveness

• What is meant by effectiveness, what are the
  objectives?
• The scheme design, implementation, stakeholder
  involvement, control room operations and
  procedures, relationship with the police all have
  an impact
• In what conditions is the scheme operating, what
  is the context?

20
Perceptions

• Around the world there is scepticism
• In UK, the public are very supportive
• The police have a mixed attitude but mostly good
• Offenders say it will not put them off, unless
  they have been caught!

21
CCTV as a Prevention Tool

• Does security work?
• What makes a good risk assessment?
• What makes for good prevention?
• What more do we need to learn?
• What do we need to do to make CCTV effective?

22
Summary

• There is a lot we can learn from different types
  of evaluations
• We can greatly improve the effectiveness of
  security measures
• We are helping organisations to better assess
  risks and implement better and more
  cost-effective solutions

23
Professor Martin GillDirector

• Perpetuity Research and Consultancy International
  Ltd (PRCI)
• m.gill_at_perpetuitygroup.com