NCJ Number
214555
Journal
The Annals Volume: 587 Dated: May 2003 Pages: 110-135
Date Published
May 2003
Length
26 pages
Annotation
This article reports on the findings of a systematic review, using meta-analytic techniques, of the evaluation research findings on the effects of closed-circuit television (CCTV) in reducing crime in public spaces.
Abstract
The study found that CCTV was most effective in reducing crime in car parks. The impact of the CCTV deployment was limited to a reduction in vehicle crimes (the only crime type measured) and all five of the car-park CCTV deployments were one of multiple car-park interventions, such as improved lighting and the posting of notices about the CCTV cameras. The evaluations of CCTV schemes in city centers and public housing measured a wider variety of crime types; and with one exception, the deployments were not accompanied by other interventions. Overall, the review concludes that CCTV reduced crime to a small degree (4 percent). The authors recommend that future CCTV schemes be carefully implemented in different settings. The lesson from the car-park evaluations may be that CCTV is most effective when it targets specific crimes prevalent in given geographic areas and in combination with other interventions. Future evaluations of CCTV schemes should use high-quality evaluation designs with long follow-up periods and attention to effective means of measuring any crime displacement (a crime increase in another area without CCTV) caused by the CCTV. A number of targeted and comprehensive searches of the published and unpublished literature and contact with leading researchers produced 22 CCTV evaluations that met the authors' criteria for inclusion in the review. The evaluation design was required to be of adequate or good methodological quality, with the minimum design involving before-and-after measures of crime in experimental and control areas. 5 tables, 1 figure, and 49 references