The use, impact, condition, and effectiveness of Public Space CCTV across Scotland

Colleagues at the Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research (SCCJR) have been contracted by the Scottish Government to report the use, impact, condition, and effectiveness of public space CCTV across Scotland. We will also make a comparison of the findings between the UK and Denmark.

The project is a mixed methods study of the use and impact of public space CCTV across Scotland. We seek to expand existing evidence of the effectiveness and outcomes of CCTV use by providing up-to-date evidence of CCTV provision in contemporary Scotland and its impacts on users of public space. The project will incorporate desk-based research, an online survey, and innovative qualitative walking interviews to collate and analyse baseline evidence on monitoring and observing from a range of perspectives.

The project will gather evidence from urban, semi-urban, and rural contexts within Scotland for national and international comparison to generate data that will allow for evaluations of the effectiveness of public space CCTV, help further investments in the field that improve the technology, or, perhaps, offer insights into alternative methods of security and crime prevention.

The project will run from this August to March 2023.

For queries related to this research project please contact the PI Janos Mark Szakolczai

Photo by Lianhao Qu on Unsplash