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This chapter reviews the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras to prevent crime in public places. CCTV evaluations were carried out in four main settings: city and town centers, public housing, public transport, and car parks. The overall findings indicate that CCTV reduces crime in some circumstances. In light of these mixed results, the chapter suggests that future CCTV programs should be carefully implemented in different settings and should employ high-quality evaluation designs with long follow-up periods.

This chapter examines the political aspect of surveillance for crime prevention. It provides the background on the different forms of surveillance that are designed to prevent crime in public places, and charts key historic and recent developments which have shaped the use of the major forms of surveillance to prevent crime in public places. The chapter describes some of the most widely used crime-prevention systems, including street lighting and closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, and evaluates their social costs.

This chapter explores key policy choices and challenges that U.S. cities face in the use of major forms of public-surveillance approaches such as closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras and improved street lighting to prevent crime in public places. It suggests that not all forms of surveillance are as potentially intrusive, and raises questions about the infringement of civil liberties and other social costs. However, these social costs need to be weighed against any crime-prevention benefits that accrue from the different forms of surveillance.

This introductory chapter explains the theme of this book, which is about surveillance systems and crime prevention. It evaluates the effectiveness of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and improved street lighting in reducing crime in public spaces, and discusses the politics, theory, and methodology that are central to the study of public-area surveillance and crime prevention. The chapter explores policy choices, challenges, and future directions in the use of these public-area-surveillance methods and evaluates the scientific evidence on the effectiveness of the major forms of surveillance that are designed to prevent crime in public places.

This chapter investigates how surveillance measures can reduce crime. It explains that public-area surveillance falls under the category of situational-crime prevention, which stands apart from these other strategies by its singular focus on the setting or place in which criminal acts take place, as well as its crime-specific focus. The chapter discusses the core assumption of both opportunity and informal social-control models of prevention that criminal opportunities and risks are influenced by environmental conditions in interaction with resident and offender characteristics. Thus, though street lighting, closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, and some physical design changes to buildings and parks do not constitute a physical barrier to crime, they can act as a catalyst to stimulate crime reduction through a change in the perceptions, attitudes, and behavior of residents and potential offenders.