The way I see it, the cameras replace what we used to have....an observant and discriminating public which would not tolerate lawbreakers in their midst. When society gets huge with no brakes on behavior we get modern society. This is a small step towards replacing that and conclusions like "deterrent value= 0" don't match the facts presented in the rest of the article.
So we have to give up our privacy (and don't feed me that cr*p about "public spaces"--there is great difference between observation by the general public and continuous observation by big brother) to make you feel better. As I said--the actual deterrent value is zero. A huge cost in real dollars to install, maintain, and pay "watchers", and the bottom line is IT DIDN'T WORK.
And it will NEVER work as a significant deterrent, the "facts" in the article notwithstanding.