Councils spent half a billion pounds on CCTV in four years

Published by Julien Tremblin for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Local Government

Local authorities in the UK have spent more than £500 million on their CCTV operations in the past four years, according to a report by Big Brother Watch.

The report - following a Freedom of Information request - reveals there are now at least 51,600 CCTV cameras controlled by councils, with five of them each operating more than 1,000 cameras.

This represents an investment of £515 million in four years – the equivalent of an extra 4,000 police officers on the streets, the group claims.

Of the 428 councils questioned, Big Brother Watch found a total of 51,655 cameras are now being operated and that 18 authorities spent more than £1m per year.

Birmingham City Council was the largest spender with a total of £14.3 million spent on more than 600 cameras. Westminster came second with £11.8m spent on 153 cameras.

The association says Britain has an “out of control” surveillance culture as figures suggest the country is home to 20% of the world’s population of CCTV cameras, despite being home to just 1% its population.

Emma Carr, deputy director of Big Brother Watch, said: “CCTV should not be a substitute for policing and yet it continues to be claimed – without evidence – that more CCTV improves public safety. Retaining the current level of surveillance directs resources away from the alternatives that could have a greater impact on both preventing and solving crime.

“Big Brother Watch is urging the government to ensure that any publicly funded CCTV installation should have to refer to crime statistics or demonstrate a significant risk of harm before being commenced."