While London, along with other parts of the UK, has long since been smothered by CCTV cameras and other forms of surveillance, a new report put out by the Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly suggests that all these watchful eyes may not be curbing crime. Dee Doocey, the Liberal Democrats spokeswoman, was quoted as saying that figured obtained in the study comparing the number of cameras in a given borough "with the proportion of crimes solved suggests there is no link between a high number of CCTV cameras and a better crime clear-up rate." Close to £200 million ($401 million) has purportedly been spent on building such an elaborate CCTV network, but this study noted that it still wasn't "entirely clear if some of that money would not have been better spent on police officers."

[Via Wired]


CCTV overload in London not as effective as previously hoped?