Thanks to CCTV, we can all sleep easier, safe in the knowledge that cameras on every corner are helping nab the bad guys. Right? Not necessarily.

The Association of Chief Police Officers' lead on CCTV reckons that we are all being conned into believing that Britain's 4.5 million cameras are helping to protect us.

At a conference on forensic intelligence, reported in Police Review (April 4), Graeme Gerrard said that no one knows how many detections result from CCTV. Unlike with DNA and fingerprints, no records are kept.

Although Britain's system of CCTV is the most comprehensive in the world, forces do not have the capacity to manage it, Gerrard told delegates.

CCTV is all-seeing but not much doing

Can we really sleep easier in our beds because of the plethora of cameras in our communities, or is it just an urban myth we want to be true?

BACKGROUND

• There may be trouble ahead

• Low-status work is stressful

• A medicine man's prescription

• What worked for us

Related Internet Links

• Public sector jobs

• Snakes & Ladders

Recovering evidence from CCTV is a job for specialists, but most forces delegate the role to constables, he said. After the London bombings in 2005, police struggled to find experts to recover digitally recorded footage.

If used properly, however, cameras can bring results. “I get more detections through CCTV than conventional crime scene investigation, but I am spending more on traditional crime scene investigations,” said Gerrard, who is also Deputy Chief Constable of Cheshire Constabulary.

CCTV comes under scrutiny in Fire (April), too. Firefighters are not keen on cameras even as a potential means of deterring attacks upon them.

Matt Wrack, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union, says that crews regard cameras mounted on appliances as “a waste of money and counterproductive”. Captured images are of insufficient quality to be used as evidence and there are also concerns that footage could be used for staff disciplinary purposes.

Another concern relates to firefighters' neutrality, says Wrack, and the fear of being seen as “coppers who squirt water”.

Times Recommends

• Minister in talks with Saudis to protect creditors
• Premier Inn hits back in £29-a-room row
• Bankers hit back at 'populist' bonus supertax