But he failed to realise that it was actually the plain-clothed officer he was watching on the screen, according to details leaked to an industry magazine.

The operator directed the officer, who was on foot patrol, as he followed the “suspect” on camera last month, telling his colleague on the ground that he was “hot on his heels”.

The officer spent around 20 minutes giving chase before a sergeant came into the CCTV control room, recognised the “suspect” and laughed hysterically at the mistake.

Link | Photo (unrelated) via Flickr user Smabs Sputzer

Lola just wanted to make friends, but ended up stuck in a trash bin for 15 hours before her owners, Darryl Mann and Stephanie Andrews-Mann found her. Their CCTV footage shows how she got there. Link -via reddit

Update: The woman in the video has been identified. -Thanks, oezicomix!

What’s better than in surveillance than the omnipresent CCTV? Why, the ever-seeing eyes of the Senioritas, the eagle-eyed grandmas who keep watch from their aerial perch.

From Scott Burnham:

As I was working on my Urban Guide for Alternate Use today the two came together when Collective CC in Lisbon sent me some images of their latest intervention, Senioritas.

As most who live in or visit Lisbon and most southern European cities will know from experience, there exists an eagle-eyed population of women who spend their days keeping watch over the street outside their window, one phone call away from reporting any wayward activity to the police – in effect, functioning as an alternate version of CCTV in these neighbourhoods. So within Collective CC’s intervention – in addition to the clever re-contextualization of the role these women serve – is another great visual joke. The signs that Collective CC has secretively placed beneath these women’s windows is a perfect copy of the omnipresent Securitas security/CCTV company visual identity.

Link – via Wooster Collective

Amazing CCTV footage of a Turkish man who narrowly escapes a collision with a truck and a train.

File under "Lucky".

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by stinkyplum.

This is a surreal and gruesome yet fascinating sight: a massive fire engulfing the newly built 40-story Mandarin Oriental hotel in the CCTV Complex in Beijing. You can watch the top of the building exploding as fire consumes the entire structure.

CNN has an article compiling first-hand reports from its citizen reporters:

The blaze erupted in the final hours of the Chinese Lunar New Year celebration as people set off fireworks across the city.

Xinhua reported that Beijing residents were supposed to stop selling and lighting fireworks by midnight. iReporter de Villeneuve said she
suspects many people in the city were trying to use whatever remaining fireworks they had before the deadline.

"We have been seeing fireworks for the past two weeks. I have to say this is quite a surprise," she said.

iReporter Rice said he was watching fireworks nearby when he noticed that fireworks were being set off near the buildings.

"Then we looked closer and saw the flames come from the top of the building," Rice said. "Soon became apparent that the building was on fire."

Hit play or go to Link [YouTube]

Link

From the Upcoming Queue, submitted by Muppetmaker.

David Dunnico has an interesting Flickr photoset where he photographs the ubiquitous CCTVs (and their signs) in Manchester, England as an ongoing art project: Link – via Accordion Guy

William Betts is like the modern day Seurat – In his "Surveillance" series, he makes paintings from digital photographs using his own specially-designed machine to apply dots of acrylics onto canvas. The result is a grainy image akin to the blurry still images of a surveillance CCTV: Link – via The Zeray Gazette

Computers are programmed to analyse the movements of people or vehicles in the camera frame. If someone is seen lurking in a particular area, the computer will send out an alarm to a CCTV operator.

The operator will then check the image and – if concerned – ring the police. The aim is to stop crimes before they are committed. If a vehicle is moving too fast or slow – indicating joyriding or kerb-crawling, for example – a similar alert could be given.

Link

I admit I had to look up kerb crawling

Old man goes nuts at a car wash because he lost his glasses according to police report. And the whole thing was captured by CCTV. Link: Youtube