From Dave Cowland
The publication of figures on the effectiveness or not of closed-circuit TV (This Week, 23/30 December 1995; Letters, 13 and 20 January) all assume the need to combat increasing levels of crime. Nowhere is the point made that there is a wide gulf between current perceptions of crime and its actual incidence. This trend is clearly identified in the 1995/96 British Social Attitudes report which has a chapter devoted to the fear of crime.
One of the aspects of the continual increase of surveillance systems is the corrosive effect it has on our sense of public space. The cameras only reinforce the message that we should be fearful of the person walking behind us.
