The need to Increase Surveillance Cameras in Public Places

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It is important to increase the use of surveillance cameras in public places as a response to crime problems. According to English Oxford dictionary Surveillance Cameras means cameras for observation of persons or a group of people. Surveillance Cameras also imply closed circuit television (CCTV). The urban institute shows that a growing number of cities such as Chicago, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C are increasingly using surveillance cameras to reduce crime. The recent statistical data from Baltimore indicates that a public surveillance program has grown from a project of five cameras to more than five hundred cameras which has finally reduced crime levels in the country. The increase in the use of surveillance Cameras in pubic places is a decent move because it reduces fear of crime, helps the police to carry out investigations, aids in provision of medical assistance, assists in preventing antisocial behaviour, helps in medical assistance, assists in place management, helps in information gathering, and promotes the economic well-being of the nation.

The presence of many surveillance cameras reduces the fear in people who reside in a particular area from engaging in crime cases. The people become more conscious about the safety of the area which later promote business activities because of reduced theft cases in the area. Besides people will not fear to venture into profitable business activities since there is presence of good security in the place.

The use of CCT system helps the police to detect the crime rates. For instance, the police use the CCTV system to identify the potential witnesses who may not voluntarily participate in the crime cases. Besides, it helps the police to act promptly on the occurrence of a crime because the CCTV systems can detect the criminal on time which eventually alerts the police to act.

The use of many CCTV cameras improves the health status of the community because Camera operators can easily identify the sick or injured people on the streets to seek medical care. These camera operators report such incidences of the affected people to the police for further remedies. Squires discovered that CCTV camera operators alert the police around 11 to 21 times for every 7201 observation hours.

Increase in CCTV system facilitates general of specific place management. Particularly, the police can effectively locate lost children in different places. Moreover, increase in CCTV systems monitors harmful demonstrations, traffic flow, public meetings, and unnecessary alarms in different places. According to Brown reports, the increase in the use of CCTV cameras has reduced the assaults of the police. Hence the CCTV System manages the number of police to intervene at a specific place of the crime.

The increase in the use of CCTV Cameras elevates the gathering of intelligence, and monitor of known offenders in certain areas such as shoplifters in retail regions. The Camera operators identifies the faces of the law breakers or the offenders and tracks their movement in different places. For instance, Camera operators monitored the movements of criminals who used to steal clothes in Nairobi City, and helped the police to intervene in an orderly and coordinated manner.