Andy’s soft on crime....

You read it here first, two years before it’s quoted citywide on Lib Dem leaflets: CCTV is crap. C5 news late on 6/5/08: The Metropolitan Police head of surveillance said it ain’t much cop and is only responsible for enabling prosecution in 3% of solved crimes. It clearly doesn’t prevent the crimes it’s involved in the solving of. And whilst crime generally is dropping, I haven’t heard anyone says that’s because we are the most watched population in the world.

I’ve never heard about any systematic evaluation of its effectiveness. It’s like most crime initiatives; lots of bluster to no effect. We have it in Hull because a Govy scheme gave it us for free. Apparently people generally like it. I don’t. If we have to rely on such means, we’re pretty much sunk. All it does for me is reinforce the idea that the world is a dangerous place and I should be wary when I’m moving around in it. This may even be true, but the more afraid I am, the less free I feel, and the less free I then behave, the more crime is likely.