Public Area Surveillance and Police Work the impact of CCTV.pdfVIP

Surveillance Society 1(2 ): 191-203 Public Area Surveillance and Police Work: the impact of CCTV on police behaviour and autonomy.* Benjamin J. Goold1 Abstract Drawing on a recent study of the impact of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras on policing practices in a large English police force, this paper considers whether the presence of surveillance cameras affects the working attitudes and behaviour of individual police officers. In particular, this paper asks whether CCTV makes the police more accountable or more cautious in the exercise of their discretion in public spaces. Although noting that in certain circumstances CCTV may inadvertently help to reduce incidences of police misconduct, this paper concludes by arguing that more needs to be done to prevent the police from interfering with the operation of CCTV and gaining unauthorised access to potentially incriminating video evidence. Introduction Over the past decade, the United Kingdom has become the most watched citizenry in Europe. 2 Since the early 1990s, over one million closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras have been installed in towns and cities across Britain, with an estimated 500 or 3 more being added to this figure every week (Gadher, 1999). As a consequence, CCTV cameras can now be found in most urban high streets, town squares and shopping centres, as well as in many offices, car parks and stores. One of the most important questions raised by the spread of closed circuit television in Britain is whether public area surveillance has brought about any significant changes in Thanks are due to Lisa Gourd and Matthew Silverstein for their help wit