These cameras are probably adequate for tracking whence people came and where they went, but haven't the resolution or the transmission bandwidth to show enough detail to make a face truly recognizable (not in milliseconds as shown on the TV, anyway, but, rather, over the course of years of supercomputing time, a process likely to end up costing $10E12 per camera, plus image storage, coordination and correlation, if any serious analysis is required).

What's needed is a system with enough resolution and intelligence to recognize and track an object/person of interest with enough detail to show the thread holes in every one of his buttons and make each hair distinct at the 25/30 Hz frame rate using at least 4kx3k pixels per frame. That would require redundant cameras at each site, too, in case one failed.

It's probably necessary, from the viewpoint of law enforcement, but not sufficient, presently.

If the British throw a few terapounds per year (adjusted for inflation, of course) at it for the next half century, they'll eventually get it right.

Wouldn't it be cheaper if people would just adhere to the laws?

RE