Are you a bit of a history nerd? Or do you like your statistics? If so, you’ll love these 10 facts about CCTV:
- There were 350 million surveillance cameras in operation worldwide as of 2016
- About 65% of CCTV cameras are installed in Asia.
- The first CCTV system was installed by Siemens AG at Test Stand VII in Peenemünde, Nazi Germany in 1942, for observing the launch of V-2 rockets.
- The earliest video surveillance systems involved constant monitoring because there was no way to record and store information, as you can with CCTV systems today.
- In September 1968, Olean, New York was the first city in the United States to install video cameras along its main business street in an effort to fight crime.
- The first CCTV use by local government was in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, in 1987.
- In the UK, the vast majority of CCTV cameras are not operated by government bodies, but by private individuals or companies, especially to monitor the interiors of shops and businesses.
- CCTV does a lot to prevent terrorism: there are various projects − such as INDECT − that aim to detect suspicious behaviours of individuals and crowds.
- Glasses have been built which can defeat CCTV cameras- in December 2016 a form of anti-CCTV and facial recognition sunglasses called ‘reflectacles’ were invented by a custom-spectacle-craftsmen based in Chicago named Scott Urban.
- The average citizen is caught on CCTV cameras 300 times a day.
