[user104658]

Waste of time and money - the vast majority of them are not turned on / not recording. A police officer stated this to me himself. A man collapsed outside my place of work and we saw through the window, two little scumbags (well known locally) bend down as if to help him up - then instead, snatch his wallet out of his inside pocket and run off. We called the police and they came in, were asking if people would be willing to give evidence etc... I work in the center of town and there's a large pole with CCTV cameras on it mounted literally 20 metres (if that) from where the incident took place and one camera points right at the front of our building. So I asked; "Surely you'll be able to get everything you need from the CCTV?".

Police officer himself said; "We'll request footage but the truth is they're hardly ever powered on, and when they are on they're often not recording."

Very useful. Sigh.