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the United Kingdom is well known as a country where police forces make strong use of CCTV to deter crime. CCTV was first introduced as a counter-terrorism measure in the 1970s-80s when the UK was subjected to attacks by the IRA. The number of CCTV cameras in the UK is not known, but has been estimated as 4.2 million, or one for every 14 people. A single mainline railway station - Waterloo Station in London had 250 cameras running by 2002. In 2003, the first 'talking CCTV' cameras were introduced which allowed operators to talk to potential offenders they had spotted. <BR>
Although the evidence that CCTV cameras have reduced crime in the UK is mixed, there have been a number of high profile cases where CCTV evidence has helped catch criminals after the event, including the 'Soho nail bomber' and the 7th July terrorists who attacked the London underground network. The cameras have also been used to hold the police to account, such as when Jean Charles Demenezes was shot by police, and the CCTV footage contradicted some police statements.<BR>
Opposition to CCTV cameras on privacy grounds is stronger in the USA than the UK. The Chicago police department has even installed bullet-proof cameras, such is the problem of attacks by people opposed to them. There is opposition in the UK too, and the Data Protection act allows anyone to contact a company operating CCTV and demand a copy of any footage they have of that individual within 40 days. This clause has been used by political comedian Mark Thomas in a  variety of stunts to expose over-use of CCTV, and to criticize the effectiveness of the face-recognition systems sometimes employed. (In 2000, it was shown that the 'face recognition systems' in Newham (London) could not even single out brightly dressed morris dancers in a crowd, for example.).