UK DIY CCTV Beats Official Police CCTV!

Previously I posted and commented on the failure of CCTV in the UK to curb crime.

Today I got an email from one of my UK special agents:

We were stunned at some bloke in our police stating that CCTV was not very effective!

This must be down to either image quality, poor use, archiving of video images, or sheer incompetence.

We run a small community CCTV system for our street and its had a dramatic effect on crime here.

This DIY setup cost peanuts and it has caught with good image quality two prolific burglars last year.

The evidence resulted in conviction and up to 5 years prison for one of the offenders. His reign was 150 (admitted?) burglaries in our area over the last 3 years. Without CCTV, he would still be at large!

We have also caught 4 prowlers who were identified by the CCTV and later caught by police, one car vandal and also numerous small incidents.

This is quite a good result I would have thought, as otherwise they would be still doing it.

Word has spread and crime here has fallen dramatically. The criminals avoid this street!

One or two idiots believe the cameras are either dummy or crap, but if they cause trouble they are caught quickly!

MONTHS go by now without any incident. Previously you could bet on something happening on an almost daily basis (car vandalism/ street fight/ rowdy gangs/ prowlers/ burglars; the list was endless).

The surrounding streets still have the usual level of problems, so we know the math! CCTV works bloody wonders IF done properly.

Those that spend millions on a CCTV system only to have comments like it makes little difference must have got it VERY wrong! (Sorry to the police who are saddled with that crap).

Anyone with a PC can have a fully automatic system to protect their property and watch the neighbourhood. They are low cost/highly effective in my opinion.

Sample photo enclosed

Totally automatic system costing less than $100 for 4 cameras.

The police like the system and are trying to encourage folks to use them.

BTW the Police cams do, I am told, work quite effectively here in Derby. Was the initial comment specifically aimed at London?

I blame the police, not the tech.

I’ve seen documentaries detailing the UK CCTV system. They can zoom in, sometimes do facial ID, sometimes listen in, and sometimes yell at people. I think they’re second only to the CCTVs run in casinos here in the U.S..

To still fail with all that tells me the problem is human.

Like all technology, the weakest link is the lazy bastard sitting down on the job. (My PC can attest to that: how many times has the spellchecker flagged something and I’ve missed seeing it? But at least I wasn’t letting a criminal get by me!)

Here’s the sample image that was sent:

Update: Oops! My special agent didn’t know I would actually blog this. The image that was sent was of a friend testing the camera! Here’s a snap of an actual criminal, a peeping tom, who was caught by the police!

You wanker. I hope you hate the food in jail!

Explore posts in the same categories: C.O.A.T. - Other, C.O.A.T. - Scams, C.O.A.T. - Self-Defense, Other, Tech - Other