Peter Houlis speaks with Chris Jackson from the North Easts Inside Out programme

Ever had the feeling you are being watched on camera?

We've calculated there are a quarter of a million CCTV cameras spying on us in the North.

But do they really cut crime?

Or are they an alarming and unnecessary intrusion into our privacy?

Fifteen years ago, Britain barely had any CCTV cameras so what happened?

The murder of James Bulger in 1993 was captured on CCTV and provided a heartbreaking image that is still with us today. It was a very emotional moment, and prompted a call for CCTV to be installed across Britain

Soon CCTV was popping up in every city and town in the land. Today CCTV cameras are everywhere - where we live, work, eat and shop, and along roads we drive on. They're even in places where you might not expect them - in the back of cabs, on buses and trains.

The truth is that we're being spied upon far more than we perhaps imagine. It's estimated there's one CCTV camera for every 14 of us - and it's claimed that every day we are caught on camera 300 times.

So should we as ordinary citizens be concerned about it?

Peter Houlis says, "The technology can be trusted - but it's the people who are using it…

"It is a very powerful tool - what happens with that evidence is much more concerning."

Intrusion or necessary invasion?

So who guards the guardians of the information collected on camera and doesn't this smack of Big Brother?

David Wood sees CCTV as a positive but necessary intrusion: "It is more like there are many little brothers - there are many different people watching us all the time." But the thought of someone taking some CCTV footage out of context and using it for other uses remains a worry. This happened when film of the the Spencer Tunik nude art event was leaked by two civilian police staff, breaking the trust of the participants.

In terms of the future, surveillance looks likely to accelerate, and the downside will be that more and more aspects of our lives will be watched on a 24 hour basis.