How many cameras are there?

In the last decade the use of CCTV for Public Space Surveillance in the UK has developed at a faster rate than anywhere else in the world from less than a handful of city systems in 1990 to now around 350 town and city centre systems covering well over 1,000 UK towns and cities. Add to that all the Universities, Major Shopping Malls, Hospitals, Ports and Airports, Train and Bus Stations, Retail and Commercial Users, all covering 'quasi' public open space and the figures grow and grow so that there are currently probably about 1.5m public space surveillance cameras focusing on these areas.

This figure might surprise you as the oft quoted figure is 4.5 million  public surveillance cameras in the UK! However, in our view the research that lies behind that figure is extremely questionable. Based upon the number of cameras (irrespective of ownership, purpose and field of view) in a small postcode area in Putney, and extrapolated in proportion to the number of businesses in that area compared to the number of businesses in the UK, it can hardly be considered reliable or any true measure of public space surveillance!