Public and Private Applications

Executive Summary

At the request of the Senate Committee on Privacy, chaired by Senator Steve Peace, in this report the California Research Bureau (CRB) presents a survey of Close-Circuit Television (CCTV) and biometric security systems used in the United States and in other countries. We find that an increasing number of cities, schools, transit districts and public housing are deploying CCTV surveillance systems to monitor and protect the public. Our first survey, in 1997, found that only 13 city police departments in the country used CCTV video surveillance systems, primarily to monitor pedestrian traffic in downtown and residential districts. Technological advances, declining costs, and heightened security concerns following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks have led to rapid diffusion of both CCTV surveillance and biometric technologies. For example, CCTV video surveillance is widely used in public schools to monitor student movement and detect illegal activity, and at street intersections to catch cars running red lights. Private sector applications greatly