September 22, 2011
FROM A DISTANCE:
No place to hide: The value of surveillance cameras (Chicago Tribune, September 22, 2011)
They analyzed crime data in two similar Chicago neighborhoods, Humboldt Park and West Garfield Park. In Humboldt Park, they found, the cameras cut the crime rate by 12 percent. In West Garfield Park, however, they found no change.What accounts for the divergence? The report suggests that "residents in West Garfield Park believed police weren't consistently monitoring" the video feeds. If law-abiding residents think no one's watching, the thugs probably reach the same conclusion -- and see no need to change their behavior.
West Garfield Park also had a lower concentration of cameras, "which could have influenced officers' ability to interrupt crimes in progress, intervene, make arrests and deter potential offenders."
Even so, the total money spent on the cameras was far less than the savings in criminal justice costs and harm to victims. "Our results provide compelling support for Chicago's use of public surveillance cameras," say the researchers.
Washington and Baltimore offer additional mixed evidence. In Baltimore, the cameras produced "significant declines in total crime, violent crime and larceny" in the downtown area where the gadgets were installed. But in the nation's capital, which had the fewest cameras, there was no improvement.
Which is why freedom depends on faith.
Posted by oj at September 22, 2011 6:23 PM
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