Crime prevention effects of closed circuit television: a systematic review (PDF) 'Across the three settings, mixed results were found for the crime prevention effectiveness of CCTV. In the city centre and public housing setting, there was evidence that CCTV led to a negligible reduction in crime of about two per cent in experimental areas compared with control areas. CCTV had a very small but significant effect on crime in the five UK evaluations in this setting (three desirable and two undesirable), but had no effect on crime in the four North American evaluations. More schemes showed evidence of diffusion of benefits than displacement. The four evaluations of CCTV in public transportation systems present conflicting evidence of effectiveness: two found a desirable effect, one found no effect, and one found an undesirable effect on crime ... it was noteworthy that the poorly controlled (excluded) studies produced more desirable results than the better controlled (included) studies' ( UK Home Office ) See also this NACRO briefing (PDF) from May LINKS at http://www.hullocentral.demon.co.uk/site/anfin.htm