Bloomberg looked at London for CCTV measures

Most English language syllabi include the dissection of George Orwell's sinister and prophetic book 1984 where life is depicted in an oligarchal collectivist society with pervasive government surveillance in a landscape adorned with posters with the caption "Big Brother is watching you" and everybody's lives monitored by the telescreen. Arguably, Orwell may have set the blueprint for life today. In London people are watched by CCTV more than any other city in the world, being monotored by more than 12,000 cameras - New York has about 4,000. The true reason for them, of course, is for crime prevention although it's tempting to think there is a psyche out there which would associate them more with Big Brother - summed up beautifully by graffiti artist Banksy's piece on the CCTV revolution.

In recent times, CCTV in both London and New York has given us chilling images of the protagonists of the London bombers on the way to the city in 2005 and more recently in Times Square a man taking his shirt off looking back at a smoking car in a failed car bomb incident. In the case of the 7/7 attacks, London Underground provided police with more than 18,000 tapes and 300 hard drives to help investigations. Earlier this year, Michael Bloomberg visited London to see what could be learnt from the way London monitors itself with it's 'Ring of Steel' system. Eventually everyone that enters the tube system will have their face recorded as Boris Johnson tightens the screw with CCTV for crime prevention in London. It seems to be working too as during Bloomberg's visit the British Transport Police Deputy Chief Paul Crowther commented on crime reduction "crime is down on the tube which shows people are even safer when they travel. CCTV across the network are critical to achieve this year on year reduction."