Living in the UK (I'm pretty sure we have one of the highest levels of CCTV monitoring in the world) and also having worked as a CCTV operator for a summer job

Living in the UK (I'm pretty sure we have one of the highest levels of CCTV monitoring in the world) and also having worked as a CCTV operator for a summer job (surprisingly fun), my opinion is that they are yet another tool their to keep honest people honest and do little for those intent on committing crimes. In my summer job I was watching over a section of a shopping mall which was 1 mile from end to end, my area was about 1/4 of that and I was the only pair of eyes watching around 40 cameras. Recorded images are practically useless unless you are deliberately watching someone, the camera is almost always pointing in the wrong direction otherwise.