Deviance and Informal Practices among CCTV Control Room Operators in the UK

Hitherto, limited empirical research has focussed on the micro-level dynamics and social interactions forming a typical CCTV control room’s everyday operational culture. As such, the ‘human element ’ behind the monitoring of the cameras has been largely ignored in much CCTV analysis to date. Drawing upon ethnographic observation conducted within a privately funded CCTV control room, this paper questions the accuracy of a central assumption made in much of the general literature on CCTV, namely that surveillance cameras are not only controlled and monitored constantly, but also operated effectively and efficiently. A consideration of the types of person monitored, and why certain individuals attracted attention from the operatives, is also given. More specifically, and drawing on knowledge gleaned from studies of workplace culture, the article also identifies subtle forms of workplace resistance occurring in the observed control room’s informal organisation. This involved strategies such as time wasting and game playing being adopted by the operators, largely in response to the effects of tiredness, boredom, derision and the difficulty of effectively monitoring up to fifteen television screens simultaneously. Indeed, the findings from the research suggested that the operatives felt alienated from their job, due to the imprisoning confines of the CCTV control room, the long hours worked, the high expectation levels placed upon them and the low pay and lack of acclamation received from their employers. Reflecting on these findings, it is concluded that, taken together, the above factors seriously undermine the effectiveness of CCTV surveillance per se