CCTV or closed circuit television refers to electronic monitoring systems which make use of video cameras, connected by mean

of a closed (or non-broadcast) circuit, to capture, collect record and/or relay visual information about the event. CCTV cameras are very useful when it comes to offering reliable monitoring and surveillance to a particular location. When installed, they provide video surveillance and footage, the archive of which can be retrieved when the need arises. The viewer will be able to see what has transpired during the moments captured. These clips can function as important and credible evidences of the events taking place at that particular point in time at the specific location. Thats why CCTV surveillance system had been adopted for use in public spaces in many countries. Automated surveillance systems and remote monitoring devices now constitute an integral part of the prevailing technological infrastructure, enabling modes of transportation, education, government and commerce that would otherwise be unthinkable. CCTV system has increasingly become part of these larger infrastructures. The history of CCTV technology is one of rapid evolution from static ,low resolution cameras to high quality technology solution that can pan, tilt and zoom at the command of remote operators to a police or security force network through wireless and fiber optic cable made CCTV become an important crime prevention and security measure. Meanwhile, facial-recognition software and other technologies are making security-camera images more valuable to law enforcement. Now, software can automatically mine surveillance footage for information, such as a specific person's face, and create a giant searchable database. The technology behind security equipment these days is incredibly advanced, and it is even possible to hook the cameras up to an ordinary television or computer to watch the footage. The appearance of these systems has been utilized as method of monitoring public space. Although CCTV is primary used in corroborating what is already known or suspected in volume crime incident, it is a powerful tool for triggering further investigative opportunities. It can be used, for examples, to show the nature and severity of offences and to identify suspect and witnesses, inconsistencies in account and forensic or scientific opportunities, such as the location of discarded property or vehicles, especially where it may seem that an investigation has come to a standstill. As a method of monitoring public space, CCTV is not just use for implementation in crime reduction but it has been use in monitoring high risk area such as industrial processor where cameras may be placed in high-risk areas inside a factory. Such areas may include those in which fires can possibly break out. A camera in place there will lessen potential damages because emergency measures can be made immediately. Cameras may also be placed in areas where accidents can happen. This is important so that life-saving measures can be employed promptly. CCTV also can be use of traffic monitoring. As road networks become busier and more congested real-time traffic monitoring schemes are increasingly important for road users. Traffic monitoring can help improve road network efficiency, re-routing traffics when accidents occur and minimizing delays. The success of traffic monitoring schemes is dependent on CCTV systems so surveillance must be high. For home use, CCTV system also useful in monitoring the safety of family. Home owner has increasingly installed these devices within their home premises to monitor the situation when they are not home. The system will

monitor criminal that breaking residences and stealing valuables. For examples,CCTVs are used to detect any unauthorized entry into the house as in burglary; or simply to deter would-be intruders from trespassing onto or breaking into their homes.With both the house and loved ones protected,home owners can leave their home with peace of mind.In few cases the CCTV can keep an eye on maid in home and make sure nothing out of the ordinary is going on. The used of CCTV system in banks, shop and shopping mall is not just to prevent thieves, shop lifting and robbery. Banks and shops equipped with CCTV cameras give the customers sense of security and safety. The customers feel secure and this enhances the customers confidence. This means CCTV also can support business by building secure image and confidence for customer. For employer, having a CCTV camera inside offices may help in creating discipline among the employees. For manager, who want their presence felt so that efficiency at work is optimized, a camera hovering the employees will give the same effect. This will encourage good behavior among the employees. CCTV can protect your staff physically against violence from customers. At the same time, it can also protect them against false accusations perhaps coming from colleagues or even from client and customers. This will be a method to protecting your staff. Despite its usefulness, the use of CCTV surveillance is not without controversy. As the number of CCTV cameras increases, so does the potential number of people being watched and the number of council officers watching with worrying implications for personal privacy and data security. CCTVs can be regarded as some to be an invasion of privacy. For instance, if they are installed thoughtlessly at say someone else bedroom or bathroom, it will indeed be an intrusive act. CCTVs should also not capture part or all of the properties of neighbor since this may constitute an act of voyeurism or harassment. Some employers, with the intention of making sure their staff do not waste time on the job (e.g. surfing the internet and chatting) or steal from them, install CCTVs to monitor them. The employees may feel offended if they hold the view that their employers are spying on them. Mistrust and hostility may result as constant monitoring puts workers ill at ease. Employees must be notified of the installation should the employer wishes to do so. Other disadvantageous of CCTV system, CCTV is usually not able to display every square inch of a business or facility. Even if the cameras are positioned correctly, there is no guarantee that the cameras will catch any crime or unwanted behavior done on the property. These cameras can sometimes be thwarted by covering them up or by sticking a piece of chewing gum on the lenses. Someone who is familiar with the property may still be able to get around the surveillance and avoid getting caught. If the cameras are positioned incorrectly, the high traffic areas of the facility will not be shown on camera. In this case, much of the behavior that the CCTV cameras are designed to detect will not be captured and recorded. The lack of enforceable regulation also means that more intrusive use of CCTV for example, in public toilets, schools or with audio recording capability can only be challenged in the courts by way of judicial review. The effectiveness of CCTV in crime reduction also influence by location and focus of the scheme. The effectiveness of the camera coverage is attributable not least to the positioning of the camera. Camera has to be able to observe a target area to detect crime and gather evidence. If camera were poorly positioned or covered too small an area then operators could undertake only partial monitoring and could not track offenders from one area to another. The achievement of objectives of objectives depends on paper monitoring. CCTV has both a set

up cost and an ongoing recurrent operating cost. These costs can make it expensive to implement and maintain. Furthermore technology is constantly improving requiring ongoing decision making as to whether the equipment being used will need to be upgraded. There are a wide range of costs associated with CCTV systems, with the most expensive involving many cameras, 24 hour monitoring and active monitoring (IRIS 2005,Wilson & Sutton 2003).

According to own observations, many CCTV system installed on the business premises even in schools. This is due to a significant increase in the crime rate especially kidnapping cases happened in Malaysia and use of CCTV able to prevent crime and increase the confidence of parents about their children's safety in school. CCTV can monitor visitors entering the school, including the strangers while increasing the level of safety in school. Its also able to prevent the problem of truancy among students who are getting serious. CCTV can help school management to improve discipline in schools. CCTV installation also available in public transportation such as bus station, LRT station and airport. This is due to crimes such as pick pocket problem, smuggling and terrorism. Bombings in Boston, london recently where a responsible person were detected using a cctv system. The Boston bombing suspects were identified on security-camera footage (dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1198170/7th-July-London-bombings).Without such monitoring, the authorities may has difficulties to find the responsible person. Unfortunately there are people who do not appreciate this technological knowledge with misuse it by taking advantage of others privacy. They intentionally install CCTV in public toilets, hotels and other public area just to peek personal privacy. Then they will threaten the victim to reveal the pictures taken at internet if victim didnt follow their needs. By intruding personal privacy they manipulating victim to fulfill their needs.
Boston's example has shown the power of these systems to help solve crimes, causing many to call for even more cameras. But it's still not clear whether they are effective at preventing crimes. According to the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen's University in Ontario, urban surveillance systems have not been proven to have any effect on deterring criminals. Security cameras need not be tools only for law enforcement and businesses. They are an excellent deterrent for private homes. Just having them visible on one's house is often enough to make thieves look elsewhere and the video information they acquire is private unless the owner releases it. The cost of video surveillance systems has dropped considerably and the technology continues to improve. I have seen a small security camera that has a built in recorder that can put a week's worth of images on a camera card and it cost less then a hundred dollars. They are also very easy to use, pretty much just set and forget. To me, it's not enough to rely on the government to do the surveillance when people can do it for themselves where they live. If enough people would do their own surveillance of their small piece of the world, a lot crimes could be deterred or, if necessary, solved. Nothing is as good a witness as a security camera.

CCTV has become commonplace as a tool to prevent and detect criminal and anti-social behavior. CCTV can be deterrent to a potential offender, can help to reassure the public, can assist public authorities to manage ongoing incidents, and helps to protect business, vulnerable premises and national facilities. It is also a useful tool when risk assessing scenes prior to deployment of the emergency services. It is important to understand what we want to achieve by installing a CCTV system in our premises. Any use of CCTV needs to be part of a broader crime reduction strategy that carefully considers the benefits and limitations of the technology. A handful of strategically placed and well-managed cameras with clear objectives might tackle some issues, but poorly thought-out blanket coverage that is presumed to be a panacea by its mere presence will only create further problems. CCTVs, when used appropriately, will provide immense help to everyone. They minimize the need to station manpower to manually monitor the situation while freeing up resources for more important matters. The presence of CCTVs gives law-abiding citizens and home owner a sense of security. Every user must weigh the benefits and drawbacks to decide if it is the right method of protection. For any upright residents or employees, the loss of privacy does not present a problem; they have come to accept the fact that CCTVs are part and parcel of everyday life.

IRIS Research Ltd. 2005, Australian Councils CCTV Survey 2005, Wollongong, IRIS Research. http://edition.cnn.com/2013/04/26/tech/innovation/security-cameras-boston-bombings http://kualalumpurcity.olx.com.my/cctv-8channel-with-ir-camera-and-wiring-iid-335066288
Even after the identification of the Boston bombing suspects through grainy security-camera images, officials say that blanketing a city in surveillance cameras can create as many problems as it solves. A network of cameras on city streets and other public spaces increases the chances of capturing a criminal on video but can generate an overwhelming amount of evidence to sift through. The cameras make some people feel more secure, knowing that bad guys are being watched. But privacy advocates and other citizens are uneasy with the idea that Big Brother is monitoring their every public move. Meanwhile, facial-recognition software and other technologies are making security-camera images more valuable to law enforcement. Now, software can automatically mine surveillance footage for information, such as a specific person's face, and create a giant searchable database. After last week's bombings at the Boston Marathon, authorities had to sift through a mountain of footage from government surveillance cameras, private security cameras and imagery shot by

bystanders on smartphones. It took the FBI only three days to release blurry shots of the two suspects, taken by a department store's cameras.

The FBI last week released security-camera images of suspects in the deadly Boston Marathon bombings.

Compare their quick turnaround with the 2005 London bombings, when it took thousands of investigators weeks to parse the city's CCTV (closed-circuit television) footage after the attacks. The cameras, software and algorithms have come a long way in eight years. Cities under surveillance In major cities, in the age of terrorism, someone is almost always watching. The cameras used in London are part of the city's extensive and sophisticated "Ring of Steel" surveillance system that combines nearly a half million cameras, roadblocks and license plate readers to monitor the heart of the city. Set up in 1998, the system is one of the most advanced in the world and allows authorities to track anyone going into or out of central London. Many residents question the effectiveness of London's system, however. In 2008, only one crime was solved for every 1,000 cameras, according to the city's police. CCTV cameras across Britain also cost authorities nearly $800 million over the past four years, according to civil liberties group Big Brother Watch. Modeled after London's system, New York's Lower Manhattan Security Initiative monitors 4,000 security cameras and license plate readers south of Canal Street. The project uses feeds from both private and public security cameras, which are are all monitored 24 hours a day by the NYPD. Using face and object-detection technology, the police can track cars and people moving through 1.7 square miles in lower Manhattan and even detect unattended packages. The $150 million initiative also includes a number of radiation detectors and automatic roadblocks that can can be used to stop traffic in an emergency. Boston's camera network is smaller than those in London and New York, though that is likely to change soon. In 2007, Boston law enforcement had an estimated 55 CCTV cameras set up around the city. Since then, the city has expanded its surveillance system, though authorities there are not commenting on the exact scope of the current camera setup. Boston's example has shown the power of these systems to help solve crimes, causing many to call for even more cameras. But it's still not clear whether they are effective at preventing crimes. According to the Surveillance Studies Centre at Queen's University in Ontario, urban surveillance systems have not been proven to have any effect on deterring criminals. Facial recognition

A surveillance camera attached to a building in the Financial District of New York City.

As the volume and quality of cameras and sensors are ramped up, cities are turning to more advanced face- and object-recognition software to makes sense of the data. "We describe what's in the video, and we store that in a database," said Al Shipp, CEO of San Francisco-based 3VR, one of several companies that makes this type of facial-recognition technology. The company's first investor was In-Q-Tel, the CIA's venture-capital arm, which finds and funds promising security-related technology. Now, 3VR works with federal and local law enforcement agencies, as well as private companies and banks. Its software can identify objects by shape, size and color. It can read license plates and recognize cars. When it comes to people, it can detect their gender, approximate age, mood and other demographic information. Using multiple cameras, it can track their patterns and some behaviors. It automatically zooms in on any person's face and identifies them based on things like the distance between their eyes or the shape of their nose. All that information is stored in a database. Big clues that would take a traditional investigator untold hours of watching video to uncover can be found with a 15-second search query. Opinion: Surveillance state no answer to terror For example, they could do a search for anyone who entered a 7-Eleven store between 8 and 11 p.m. on a specific night, pull up the times that certain cars have entered and left a parking lot, or ask for images of every person who has entered a certain building over the past year. "It instantaneously gives you a picture of everybody who has walked in the door in the past based on the geometries of their face," Shipp said. Privacy concerns Civil-liberties activists are concerned about how this technology could be abused. With cameras in far-flung cities all connecting to the same database, a person's movements can be tracked across states or continents. For example, it could be used to single out a person attending multiple political protests. "We like to think we have some privacy in our lives, that we can go places that we don't necessarily want the government to know about," said said Jennifer Lynch, an attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an Internet civil-liberties group. "What concerns me is if all of those cameras get linked together at some point, and if we apply facial recognition on the back end, we'll be able to track people wherever they go." For now, many of the biometrics databases in the United States are still separated. Some are scattered across various federal and local government agencies, and connecting them will take time

and big budgets. The FBI is in the process of building out its own facial-recognition database and is working with state DMVs to access their photos. It's less likely the government will be able to tap into private databases anytime soon, but it's still a cause for concern down the line, privacy advocates say. Facebook has the largest facial-recognition database in the world, a potentially rich vein of data for any government agency. Another worry is the misidentification of suspects. Shipp acknowledges that these systems can make mistakes but says the computers aren't there to take over for humans but to assist investigators by weeding out useless information. "The cameras themselves are not a panacea. They're not going to solve the problem. It's one of the steps," he said. But at least one prominent tech blogger thinks the benefits of surveillance cameras outweigh our fears about privacy. "The idea of submitting to constant monitoring feels wrong, nearly un-American, to most of us. Cameras in the sky are the ultimate manifestation of Big Brother -- way for the government to watch you all the time, everywhere," Farhad Manjoo wrote last week in Slate. But Manjoo thinks we need to be thinking about ways to make cameras work for us, not reasons to abolish them. "When you weigh cameras against other security measures, they emerge as the least costly and most effective choice. In the aftermath of 9/11, we've turned most public spaces into fortresses -now, it's impossible for you to get into tall buildings, airports, many museums, concerts, and even public celebrations without being subjected to pat-downs and metal detectors. When combined with competent law enforcement, surveillance cameras are more effective, less intrusive, less psychologically draining, and much more pleasant than these alternatives."