These days you will no doubt be aware of CCTV Cameras in the towns you visit, in the trains you ride in, in bus stations and, indeed, in every public place you frequent.

Whether you think this is a good idea will depend on your personal point of view. You may consider that your privacy is being invaded or that your freedom is being denied. Of course, these views are important and need to be considered when anyone is deciding where to place their CCTV Cameras. But in public places, your freedom also needs to be protected. Your freedom to walk around town without being mugged; your freedom to conduct your business without being robbed; your freedom to live without personal abuse.

CCTV Cameras enable our ordinary lives to be lived without others taking advantage of us through criminal behaviour or unacceptable anti-social activities. CCTV Cameras are used as a deterrent so that everyone is aware that their activities are being filmed and recorded when they are in a public place. If anyone is naïve enough to think that the CCTV Cameras they see are inactive so they can ignore them then they will be mistaken. These days, you don’t need film to be changed in a camera. They can run constantly without needing any attention.

So as well as being a deterrent, CCTV Cameras are also used to identify those who have chosen to ignore socially agreed behavior and bring them to justice. This is why the placing of CCTV Cameras is not always so obvious. People aren’t always aware their activities are being recorded. They may place a bag over the obvious ones before they commit their crime but they don’t necessarily find all the cameras. The obvious ones are placed there as a warning!

But there is also a growing trend for CCTV Cameras to be used in personal spaces as well as public ones. At home, they can monitor your children’s activities, to keep an eye on them from another room; they can record babysitters to make sure they are actually acting responsibly with your loved ones; they can keep an eye on your important possessions while you are away from home. At the work place, they can monitor the activities of your staff to make sure they are doing what they are supposed to be doing; they can record meetings and conversations to revisit exactly what was agreed; they can identify patterns of unacceptable behavior and be used to back up accusations from one staff member against another.

Whatever views we may personally harbour about being watched by others, we must accept that this is the reality of life today in modern societies. We can use CCTV Cameras to our own advantage if we choose to do so or we can miss out on the opportunity to protect our own lives and belongings. It’s up to us how we make use of this incredibly sophisticated technology.