Are you a bit of a history nerd? Or do you like your statistics? If so, you’ll love these 10 facts about CCTV:

  1. There were 350 million surveillance cameras in operation worldwide as of 2016
  2. About 65% of CCTV cameras are installed in Asia.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. The first CCTV use by local government was in King’s Lynn, Norfolk, in 1987.
  7. 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.
  8. CCTV does a lot to prevent terrorism: there are various projects − such as INDECT − that aim to detect suspicious behaviours of individuals and crowds.
  9. 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.
  10. The average citizen is caught on CCTV cameras 300 times a day.