CCTV is touted as a safety measure for daycare centres. But does it work?

Detailed summary

The federal government has just released an evaluation of CCTV use in more than 300 Australian early learning services.

CCTV has been promoted as one way to make early learning safer in the wake of ongoing reports of child abuse and neglect.

It’s certainly something families see as enhancing safety in services.

The federal government has been running an evaluation of how CCTV is used in early learning services around Australia to understand whether it was appropriate and effective. And whether it should be used more widely.

We now have the final report, alongside two new international studies about CCTV in early learning and care.

The evidence suggests we should not be relying on CCTV to protect kids. Here’s why.

The CCTV trial began late last year and was based on 309 services who were already using CCTVs. It was conducted by Nous Group and then independently evaluated by KPMG.

It found CCTV is useful for investigations (once abuse occured). But it cautioned

Across 3,386 incidents recorded during the three-month assessment, 80% were picked up through active human supervision and 16% through children speaking up. Just 3% were detected via CCTV, and those were overwhelmingly low-level hazards like wet floors or minor playground tumbles.

The report explicitly warns CCTV is “unlikely” to deter perpetrators of child sexual abuse, nor capture such crimes, because abuse occurs in private spaces like bathrooms and nappy-change areas where cameras are prohibited.

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