The number of CCTV cameras tracking Scots citizens has soared, with at least 12,170 cameras now installed across the country – nearly a third more than five years ago.
Campaigners said CCTV coverage is rising faster in Scotland than in the rest of the UK, despite evidence suggesting it is not effective at tackling crime.
Charles Farrier, co-founder of No to CCTV, said: “Since 2009, it seems CCTV in Scotland is expanding quicker than anywhere else.
“Every time the numbers increase, we take more freedom away.”
Costing a minimum of £1500 per camera per year for 24/7 monitoring, councils across Scotland could have forked out about £18million on the system.
Farrier added: “It’s a costly waste of money, which is trading people’s freedom for nothing.
“It’s moving forward in ways that are frightening. Facial
recognition software is being rolled out across the country.
"It can follow people, it can track them. It’s a slippery slope. It’s the chilling effect of this technology.
“That’s not what the public agreed to. The public agreed to this on the basis that it would reduce crime and it does not do that.”
The size of the network has soared since 2003, when there were just 1269 such cameras.
Now, South Lanarkshire has the most cameras in the country with 2336, followed by 1640 in Fife, 1138 in North Lanarkshire and 1024 in Aberdeen.
Niall McCluskey, one of Scotland’s leading human rights lawyers, said councils needed to be transparent about why they were increasing the number of CCTV cameras at such a rate.
He added: “The first question that occurs, given we already have what appears to be a huge amount of CCTV trained on our citizens, is why is there a need for more? That’s not just from a civil liberties point of view but also a public resources point of view.
“When organisations can spend more and more on CCTV, we have to know what their justification is for doing so.
“It becomes so invasive that it goes beyond its initial purpose.”
However, the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities (Cosla), the umbrella body representing councils, said the cameras were vital to fight crime and terrorism.
A Cosla spokesman added: “It is a matter for councils and their local partners on the number of CCTV cameras deployed locally.”
In 2017, Midlothian and Inverclyde put forward plans to ditch cameras to cut council costs.
But anti-terrorism expert David Videcette, who helped investigate the 7/7 bombings in London, said CCTV footage helped map the movements of the Glasgow Airport bombers in 2007.
Videcette, a former Metropolitan Police officer, said: “If there was another attack on Glasgow Airport, the lack of CCTV would make the job of the police much harder.”
