They come in all shapes and sizes and can be installed anywhere, from your car and your handbag to police surveillance vans and taxis. They are ideal for purposes of security as they have the ability to recall events in real time at an accurate date and provide information that may lead to the detection and persecution of criminal activities. Emerging technologies will make faster, quicker cameras that will be able to pick a face out of the crowd on command. They could be programmed to identify criminal behavior by body movement that might signify a troublemaker, and zoom up on your face in an instant.

Banks, hospitals, institutions that deal in large sums of money, government buildings, and schools are several areas of the public sector where closed-circuit television cameras work well. The CCTV System is moving towards a completely computerized monitoring system that will eventually replace the current need for a CCTV operator and become a fully automated system.