By Sam Greenhill 28th December 2010
Surveillance state: Campaigners have said money could have been spent on schools and hospitals
Councils have spent £315million on spy cameras – despite slashing jobs and public services.
Their commitment to keep the streets under surveillence seems undiminished by the cuts being made to bring the nation’s finances back into check.
A survey of 336 councils shows why Britain has been dubbed the ‘big brother’ capital of the world.
They spent a total of £314,835,170 on installing and operating CCTV cameras from 2007 to 2010.
Campaigners for civil liberties branded the findings ‘scandalous’ and said the money would have been better spent on schools, hospitals and other vital services.
However, Britain’s largest police force says that CCTV helps its officers solve six crimes every day by identifying suspects from it.
The hundreds of millions spent on CCTV is the latest sign that the march of Britain’s ‘Surveillance Society’ seems virtually unstoppable.
Surreptitious and unaccountable surveillance practices – aided by weak legal protection – have mushroomed faster than anywhere else in the world.
CCTV now logs the every move of Britons walking along high streets, with people estimated to be caught on camera up to 300 times a day.
Bosses at Birmingham City Council have spent £10.5million on 200 cameras in two mostly Muslim areas
Topping the list is Birmingham City Council, which has put up more than 200 cameras in two largely Muslim areas at a cost of £10.5million. Next is Sandwell Metropolitan Borough Council, also in the West Midlands, which spent £5.3million.
WHAT £315M WOULD PAY FOR
- 15,202 - newly-qualified nurses
- 10,599 - newly-qualified doctors
- 31,500 - hip replacement operations
- 3,174 - fully equipped Army Land Rovers
- 20 - new secondary schools
- 14,584 - newly-qualified teachers
The third-highest amount spent was £3.8million, by Leeds City Council. Edinburgh and Hounslow councils came next, spending £3.6million and £3.5million.
The figures came from answers to Freedom of Information requests.
Alex Deane, of campaign group Big Brother Watch, said: ‘£315million is a shocking figure. Public money is being wasted on snooping surveillance that does next to nothing to prevent or solve crime.
‘We are being watched more than ever before, and we’re being ripped off into the bargain. British taxpayers will be scandalised to see their money being thrown away like this in the current economic climate.’
But Detective Chief Inspector Mick Neville said Scotland Yard has revolutionised the use of CCTV by treating it like DNA or fingerprints.
Mr Neville, who leads the Met’s identification unit, added that the number of suspects identified by his team has risen by a quarter to 2,512 this year, thanks to CCTV.
He said: ‘The key to our success is that images are treated as a forensic discipline. They are treated like fingerprints and DNA. When we get them we make sure that every effort is made to identify them.
‘It is not the technology, it is more about managing it in a way that produces the best results. That is why we have got police forces from around the world coming to see how we do it.’
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