The UK "needed" all these cameras to help fight crime. No only did it not make a statiscically significant impact in crime they aren't being manned. Too bad for the UK citizens that they had to foot the bill  of £200 million.

Statistics obtained by the British Liberal Democrats Party through the Freedom of Information Act show that even with over 10,000 cameras in various London boroughs, 80 percent of all crimes still go unsolved. In fact, when broken down by borough, there is no correlation between the number of cameras and the percent of crimes solved.
http://www.switched.com/2007/09/21/surveillance-cams-dont-reduce-crime-study-finds/

As cash-strapped police forces and councils around the UK are forced to tighten their belts in the recession, CCTV cameras around town centres are being left unmanned as they can't afford to pay anyone to watch out for crime as it happens.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1095609/Big-brother-NOT-watching-Cash-strapped-towns-leave-CCTV-cameras-unmonitored.html?ITO=1490