MOSCOW, January 26 (Sputnik) — The surveillance camera commissioner for England and Wales said there are too many surveillance cameras in the UK that are useless, the BBC quoted the official as saying Monday.
Cameras are "useless" if they are redundant, do not help support public safety, are located in a wrong place, damaged or have inadequate visibility, according to Tony Porter.
"My concern is about the introduction of poor surveillance that doesn't benefit society,” the commissioner said.
18 January 2015, 17:18 GMT
UK organizations and local authorities are meant to carry out annual reviews of their surveillance camera capacity but many failed to do so, Porter added. He cited as an example West Midlands regional authorities, saving almost $400,000 by reducing the number of ineffective cameras after a review.
The UK general public does not have a good understanding of the nature of surveillance, local authorities should inform residents about the exact number of cameras and their effectiveness, Porter added.
The UK has one of the largest numbers of surveillance cameras in the world, between 4 million and 5.9 million, according to estimates by the British Security Industry Association.
