20 Oct 2015 Famous Crimes Solved By CCTV Tech
The amazing success rate of CCTV cameras has led to many crimes being solved using footage over recent years. In fact, back in 2010 the Metropolitan Police in London said that these cameras solved 6 crimes a day for them.
Of course, with so many cases being solved thanks to CCTV it is no surprise to find that there are some famous crimes included in the list.
The Jamie Bulger Murder
This horrifying case from 1993 was one of the first examples of CCTV images being used to solve a major mystery in the UK. The chilling image of two boys leading young Jamie away from a shopping centre shocked the nation but led to someone recognising one of the killers. This was the breakthrough that the police needed and the two youngest murderers in modern UK history were quickly caught and sent to juvenile detention centres.
The London Nail Bomber
The London nail bomb campaign in 1999 led to terror in the capital, as 3 large nail bombs were left in public areas. 3 people were killed and well over a hundred injured by these bombs. The mystery of the bomber’s identity was solved when police spotted him in CCTV footage from the scene of the first nail bomb. The publicity given to the release of his name – David Copeland – meant that he was arrested on the night of the third bombing. Copeland was given a jail term of 6 life sentences and there seems little doubt that the use of CCTV footage led to a quick capture and stopped him from setting off more nail bombs in London.
The Boston Marathon Bombers
The use of photos and surveillance footage to track down the people behind the Boston Marathon bombing was controversial but there is no doubt that CCTV cameras played a big part in helping to identify the brothers Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev as the bombers. Without the help of the footage of the two brothers carrying backpacks and wandering among the crowds it is likely that the FBI would have taken far longer to find and capture the culprits. The CCTV Systems Peterborough business owners use are unlikely to ever get involved in such a terrible and dramatic case but they can help keep the whole area safer and freer of crime.
Carlesha Freeland-Gaither Abduction
Terrifying footage of Carlesha Freeland-Gaither being abducted and bundled into a car was released by police to help try to trace her and the kidnapper. The incident happened in Philadelphia but the nation-wide interest in the case led to detectives in Virginia to link the footage to a known offender called Delvin Barnes. Barnes’ father recognised the car in the video as being his son’s, meaning that he was soon captured and Carlesha was returned to her family.
As we can see from these cases, the use of CCTV cameras has helped solved a number of famous crimes speedily and with far less fuss than might otherwise have been the case. Of course, handy security devices from Business Watch CCTV have also helped solve many smaller cases and stop countless other potential crimes from even being committed in the first place.