CCTV in Five English Cities
Problems addressed
Violent crimes
Robberies
Interpersonal violence or injuries
Effectiveness

Promising

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Promising

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Life periods served
People of all ages
Where the program was applied
Community (streets or community centers)
Country of application
United Kingdom
Description

This is a program aimed at installing video surveillance cameras (CCTV) in urban centers with a concentration of nighttime economic activities and a relatively heavy traffic of pedestrians and vehicles.
The main objective is to prevent crime and disorder in the intervention areas. The cameras operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Any record of criminal activity captured by the cameras is forwarded to the police for intervention.

Impact evaluations

An impact evaluation showed that the intervention resulted in a statistically significant reduction in assaults, and assault-related injuries decreased by 3% at the intervention sites, while they increased by 11% at the control sites, which did not receive the intervention. There were no statistically significant differences in violent crime rates [1].

Bibliographic reference

[1] Sivarajasingam, V., Shepherd, J. P. & Matthews, K. (2003). Effect of urban closed circuit television on assault injury and violence detection. Injury Prevention: Journal of the International Society for Child and Adolescent Injury Prevention, 9(4), 312–316. https://doi.org/10.1136/ip.9.4.312

Information source