This is one element that Bruno seems to have right. There are (supposedly) far more CCTV cameras per capita in the UK than anywhere else in the world. (Admittedly, I don't have numbers.) It's clearly become part of your culture. In the US, wealthier retailers will frequently have surveillance cameras indoors, cash machines have cameras, and parking decks frequently have cameras. But there are very few cameras that randomly survey public areas. And the only cameras I know of that the government operates are traffic light cameras. (Well, they probably have some security cameras inside some government office buildings.)