FORMAL SURVEILLANCE is supplied by police or private security patrols and by CCTV and the staff who monitor it.

 

The potential for surveillance itself may deter offenders even if nobody is currently present (see [link to surveillance presentation in crime frameworks]). Formal surveillance is expensive to run, maintain and install (as appropriate) so preference should be given to natural surveillance and other SCP techniques; where it is used, aids should be employed to get the most out of it.

 

As with natural surveillance, lighting and well-constructed sightlines are important aids. CCTV is claimed to prevent as well as detect crime but evidence of impact is mixed; there is a risk of it being installed indiscriminately and expensively as a kind of ‘security fetish’. Impact on fear of crime may be positive (even if this may sometimes be a ‘placebo’ effect) but in some circumstances its installation can heighten concern.

 

CCTV seems most successful at preventing crime in car parks. For it to be effective, good lighting and unobscured views are crucial and only high quality images can be used to identify and especially to prosecute. Well-trained monitoring staff aided perhaps by movement detector software are also vital.

 

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George Street LED Street Lighting
2007
Advanced LEDs and Mo Gibson, Lighting Designer

 

Street lighting plays an important role in the safety and security of people and their valuables. With the world becoming ever more conscious of environmentally safe products, LED lighting is becoming a popular option .

 

What makes this example different from standard street lighting is that Hastings is believed to be one of the first towns in the country to use LED lighting instead of more traditional style street lamps.
LEDs have a far longer life and consume much less energy than other light sources; They are far more compact, so when the fitting does finally need to be changed – decades later – they take up little space in transportation and disposal. And the disposal is safer than other fittings because they contain no mercury.