Public Perceptions of CCTV in Residential Areas

• Author: Martin Gill,Jenna Allen,Jane Bryan
• Date: 01 December 2007
• DOI: 10.1177/1057567707311584
• Published date: 01 December 2007
• Subject Matter: Articles

304

Public Perceptions of CCTV

in Residential Areas

“It Is Not As Good As We Thought It

Would Be.”

Martin Gill

University of Leicester; Perpetuity Research &

Consultancy International Ltd.

Jane Bryan

Independent scholar

Jenna Allen

University of Warwickshire

Closed circuit television (CCTV) is commonplace in the United Kingdom and increasingly

across the world. It is commonly found in town and city centers, shopping malls, car parks,

police stations, and various workplaces. Most of the research that has been conducted so far

has concluded that the public is generally supportive. However, the emergence of CCTV in

residential areas has been much less commented on. This article reports on a study of resi-

dents’ views of CCTV, and the findings suggest that although the public are generally positive,

it is less so after having experience with cameras. Reduced experience of victimization posi-

tively affected residents’ perceptions of safety, much more than the introduction of CCTV.

Keywords: CCTV; public attitudes; evaluation; effectiveness

Introduction

Closed circuit television (CCTV) in the United Kingdom is now commonplace, and the

number of cameras used has risen to extraordinary levels, not only in town and city centers,

but also within out-of-town shopping centers, parks, schools, hospitals, and most perti-

nently, residential areas. McCahill and Norris (2003) calculated that more than four million

public and privately owned CCTV cameras are in the United Kingdom, making it the most

densely surveyed country in the world. Although findings are mixed regarding the effec-

tiveness of CCTV in reducing crime (Gill, 2006; Phillips, 1999; Welsh & Farrington, 2002),

numerous studies investigating public perceptions of CCTV have indicated strong support

(Bennett & Gelsthorpe, 1996; Sarno, Hough, & Bulos, 1999). Following the well-publi-

cized successes of the James Bulger case, the capture of the Brixton Nail-Bomber, and

more latterly the quick identification of those suspected of the London bombings, CCTV

has come to be viewed by many as a viable solution in the fight against crime, and also as

International Criminal

Justice Review

Volume 17 Number 4

December 2007 304-324

© 2007 Georgia State University

Research Foundation, Inc.

10.1177/1057567707311584

http://icjr.sagepub.com

hosted at

http://online.sagepub.com

Authors’ Note: The research team would like to thank the Home Office for funding this study.

Gill et al. / Public Perceptions of CCTV 305

a means of reducing fear of crime among the general public (see Lovering, 1995). However,

some studies have suggested that levels of support may be exaggerated (Ditton, 2000;

Ditton & Short, 1999; Graham, 1998), and it is difficult to draw concrete conclusions from

previous studies as they used differing methodologies, many very context-specific, based

on the findings from single systems.

Setting the Scene

The majority of studies that have investigated levels of victimization, fear of crime, and

avoidance behavior among the general public have concentrated on individuals using town

and city centers. Limited research has considered the views of individuals within a resi-

dential setting. Although the British Crime Survey (Simmons & Dodd, 2003) measures fear

of crime and victimization in the general population, it does not directly assess the impact of

CCTV. Therefore, it is apparent that there is a need to gauge perceptions of crime, fear of

crime, and CCTV in residential settings. This section will explore the concept of fear of crime

and the ways earlier research has dealt with this particular subject.

Local governments have identified reducing fear of crime as a priority in crime and dis-

order strategies, and all of the projects included in the analysis stated that as their aim, yet

it is still a concept that is difficult to define (Farrall, Bannister, Ditton, & Gilchrist, 2000).

For many years, the term fear of crime has been the subject of considerable debate. A num-

ber of researchers have used a measure based on feelings of safety to determine fear of

crime levels (Hale, 1996). This term, however, incorporates many noncrime-related aspects

such as health and road safety. Others have used the concept of worry about being a victim

of crime (Furstenburg, 1971; Hale, 1996; Simmons & Dodd, 2003). The British Crime Survey

showed that less than 20% of respondents worried about being a victim of crime, whereas

24% of respondents felt “very” or “fairly” unsafe walking alone in their area after dark.

Previous studies have shown that sociodemographic factors can impact perceptions of

crime and disorder, levels of victimization, fear of crime, and avoidance behavior. In particu-

lar, findings suggest that men are more likely to be victims of assault (Brown, 1998; Mayhew,

Maung, & Mirlees-Black, 1993); women are more likely to report harassment (Bennett &

Gelsthorpe, 1996); women feel less safe at night (Bennett & Gelsthorpe, 1996); and women

are more worried about becoming a victim of crime, especially after dark (Ditton, 2000).

Brown’s (1998) study of fear of crime found that women enhanced their feelings of

safety by avoiding certain places. She found that 87% of female respondents said that they

would avoid certain places, compared with 60% of male respondents. Ditton (2000) found

that older respondents tended to avoid areas more when they were alone.

It is clear that patterns of worry, safety, and avoidance behavior vary across personal and

social characteristics, but the issue here is to establish whether these perceptions and behavior

are affected by the introduction of CCTV, and if so, how? This article will explore residents’

perceptions of their local area, with the aim of determining whether fear of crime, avoidance

behavior, and victimization levels vary across sociodemographic groups, and whether these

alter following the installation of CCTV. It will focus in detail on the relationship between

any measured changes and a range of issues in an attempt to determine whether CCTV was

a causal factor. The residents’ perceptions of CCTV will be addressed in the final section

as a means of determining the part CCTV played in any measured change. The next sec-

tion will identify previous research into perceptions of CCTV.