How Surveillance is Used by Different Public Services

Learn more about how individuals and society are defended and protected. This course is ideal for intermediate learners.

Introduction 

Surveillance is close observation, especially of a suspected spy or criminal. With technology constantly developing and advancing, the surveillance that is used has to stay current and up-to-date.

It is estimated that there are between 4 and 6 million CCTV cameras in the UK alone (at the time of writing). There are over 600,000 cameras just in London. The government recommends keeping CCTV footage for 28 days, although there is no set legal time for storing images. On an average day, a person is caught on CCTV cameras up to 300 times.

Along with cameras, there are other types of surveillance available in the UK too. For example, a person’s location can be tracked through a mobile phone that is turned on – whether the phone is in use or not.

You will learn 

1. What is surveillance?
2. Why do we need surveillance?
3. How is surveillance used?