NCJ Number
202101
Journal
Crime Prevention and Community Safety: An International Journal Volume: 5 Issue: 3 Dated: 2003 Pages: 27-37
Date Published
2003
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This essay identifies and discusses some landmarks in the history of police surveillance in Britain, focusing on the use of closed circuit television (CCTV).
Abstract
After reviewing surveillance in the context of policing in general, the essay reviews the emergence of CCTV as a surveillance option for British police. In the late 1950's, police forces (beginning with Durham in 1956) began using CCTV to assist in the one-man operation of traffic lights. The technical skill required for such work was not great, nor was its impact on existing police practice. A discussion of the use for CCTV in the 1960's notes that placing CCTV cameras was relatively easy; the problem was putting the images into the control room where senior police officers were located. By 1969, 14 different police forces were using CCTV, representing 67 cameras in use nationwide. Only four of the forces were using video recorders in any way. In the 1960's and 1970's, technological constraints made any general and total public surveillance prohibitively expensive, due primarily to the high cost of transmission. A discussion of the theoretical implications of this historical perspective suggests that, overall, the history of CCTV surveillance by police adds weight to the argument that technology's use is socially constrained and constructed by existing institutional forms that determine and channel technology's functions. In controlling crime, there is little evidence to date that CCTV has had a great impact. Its symbolic impact as a deterrent, however, is believed by police forces to be significant. Further, it expands the visual surveillance of the police without having to increase the number of officers. 64 notes