There's No Success Like Failure and Failure's No Success at all

This chapter is divided into four sections. The first section describes how we should conceptualize Closed Circuit Television (CCTV). The second section documents the growth of CCTV surveillance in the UK, Europe and the rest of the world. The third section reviews the evidence from methodologically credible evaluation studies conducted around the world. In particular, it examines the evidence that CCTV leads to a reduction in crime, an increase in the detection of crime and reduction in the fear of crime. In the light of this evidence the final section argues that we need to reconceptualize how we think about the success and failure of CCTV systems.