The cost of crime to society has been estimated to be on the order of $300 billion/year (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2835847/). But that doesn't include numerous indirect costs. E.g. decreased property values, white flight and the various issues it causes, people staying indoors or making sacrifices due to fear of crime, etc.
One of the biggest things is that bothers me about our society, is children are not allowed to go outside anymore. People blame electronics, but it's almost entirely due to parents that fear their kids being outside of their eyesight. Look at the incredible map on this article, on how much range children have lost over time: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-462091/How-children-... And it's almost entirely due to fear of child abductors and crime, although other issues like increased automobile traffic play a part. I find this incredibly sad.
A surveillance society could eliminate almost all crime, or at least serious crimes. Even just reducing them significantly would have enormous economic and social impact.
I too, find the idea of being watched constantly creepy. So I propose some restrictions. They should require a warrant to get the data from the surveillance machines, and only be allowed to use it for a particular case. It should be entirely air gapped. It should be deleted after a week. And it should ideally be stuff like this surveillance drone, which can't make out individual faces, just movements to see where people have gone.
We are looking at a society that is surrounded by sensors anyway. Surveillance cameras on businesses are becoming nearly universal now they are so cheap, and everyone walks around with a microphone in their pocket. Soon all cars will have insurance mandated dashcams, not to mention self driving cars loaded with sensors. All that stuff seems much creepier than a drone, as it can't make out the faces of individuals and what they are doing or saying.