Program Profile: CCTV in Five English Cities

This program consists of installing closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras, to deter crime in five cities in England. The program is rated Promising. Intervention sites that installed CCTV cameras experienced a statistically significant reduction in assault-related emergency department visits, compared with control sites that did not install CCTV cameras. However, there was no statistically significant difference between intervention and control sites in police-reported violent offenses.

A Promising rating implies that implementing the program may result in the intended outcome(s).

This program's rating is based on evidence that includes either 1) one study conducted in multiple sites; or 2) two or three studies, each conducted at a different site. Learn about how we make the multisite determination.

Program Goals/Components

The goal of closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras is to conduct surveillance of public areas to prevent crime and disorder. CCTV cameras were installed in five urban center entertainment districts that attract economic activity at night and relatively high pedestrian and vehicle traffic. The towns and cities were Ashford, Eastbourne, Lincoln, Newport (Isle of Wight), and Peterborough. Cameras were installed to reduce crime and ran 24 hours a day.

In all but Eastbourne—where the police installed the cameras—the cameras were installed by the local council. These systems were linked with the police through dedicated telephone lines in the CCTV control rooms. Any actions taken as a result of information on assaults or precursors to violence were taken by the police.

Program Theory

The use of CCTV cameras is thought to reduce crime through various mechanisms. For instance, by increasing the perceived risk of offending, some people may choose not to offend. By increasing actual detection through surveillance, early intervention may be possible to avert a crime or violence, and those who committed the crime may be removed. If surveillance leads to the early detection of precursors to violence, then injuries may decrease (Sivarajasingam et al. 2003).

Study 1

Sivarajasingam and colleagues (2003) assessed the impact of CCTV (closed circuit television) cameras on increases in the detection of violent crime and decreases in emergency department (ED) visits for assault-related injuries.

The researchers used ED visits as a proxy for overall violence because of the close proximity of city centers and hospital facilities in most English cities (which would mean that injuries occurring in the city centers would be treated by the nearby hospital). Since other types of violence (e.g., domestic, workplace violence) would not be affected by the installation of CCTV in public spaces, a drop in overall ED visit rates was interpreted as the result of reductions in assault-related urban violence.

CCTV cameras were installed at five intervention sites: 1) Ashford, 2) Eastbourne, 3) Lincoln, 4) Newport, and 5) Peterborough. Control sites — Chelmsford, Derby, Huntingdon, Poole, and Scarborough — had no cameras. It was impossible for the researchers to match the towns/cities closely, but the five selected were from the same geographical region and had approximately the same population.

Data was collected from spring 1995 to spring 1999, which provided 2 years of data before the installation of cameras and 2 years of postimplementation data. All centers had data available. ED data was collected on assault-related visits from the hospitals. Violent offenses data related to assault and wounding was collected by the local police. No data was identifiable at the individual level. A Student’s t-test was used to examine the differences in outcomes before and after the installation of CCTV cameras. No subgroup analyses were conducted.

These sources were used in the development of the program profile:

Following are CrimeSolutions-rated programs that are related to this practice:

Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) Surveillance

Public surveillance systems include a network of cameras and components for monitoring, recording, and transmitting video images. Public surveillance cameras are designed to reduce both property and personal crime. This practice is rated Promising for reducing overall crime, property crime, and vehicle crime, and rated No Effects for impacting violent crime.

Evidence Ratings for Outcomes

	Crime & Delinquency - Multiple crime/offense types
	Crime & Delinquency - Property offenses
	Crime & Delinquency - Vehicle crime
	Crime & Delinquency - Violent offenses

Why might a practice's outcome ratings differ from the ratings of specific programs encompassed by that practice?