I have mixed feelings over this. As a recent victim of crime (burglary and robbery) I know there is nothing the police can do about it even though the robber was caught on tape. There is a lot of crime that goes unpunished that contributes heavily to morale of the honest part of the population and their belief in the system. Why work when some thugs can take your staff for free and won't even be bothered by police over it.

I mean if I am spending better part of my life working and giving away huge % of what I make to the government the least I could expect is said government having resources to catch the bad guys. I am in lucky position that the crime won't affect me much. It's a significant sum of money and a lot of days spent fixing stuff, worrying about security etc. I can't start to imagine how demoralizing it must be for someone who losses years of savings in a burglary and that's not even a stretch to imagine if they go for a few nice things you have (like say a nice mountain bike or skiing equipment).

I find the attitude of ignoring "petty crime" very worrying. I think the cost of it is underestimated. If we can use technology to catch the bad guys let's try it. As an honest working tax payer the government has all my data anyway and can get phone records to pinpoint my location most of the time. I don't care that much anymore. I do care about being safe though. As long as the cameras are in public places and not on private properties it's not such a big hit to privacy anyway.