Surveillance Camera Study
As the City of Buffalo is in the process of installing 60 surveillance cameras throughout the City, a study done in San Francisco questions the value of cameras as a crime deterrent.
In a city with a bad image for crime perception is just as important as reality. Perhaps cameras are not the most effective tool in deterring crime, but many people perceive them as effective with block clubs and community leaders lobbying for camera locations in their neighborhoods.
A copy of the San Francisco article is below. What do you think about surveillance cameras?
S.F. video cameras don't deter crime, study shows
Friday, March 21, 2008
(03-20) 13:40 PDT San Francisco - -- A new UC Berkeley study of San Francisco's 68 security cameras appears to indicate what many city officials have long suspected: The controversial devices perched at the city's roughest street corners don't have much of an effect on violent crime. The researchers examined 59,706 crimes occurring within 1,000 feet of the cameras between Jan. 1, 2005 and Jan. 28, 2008. While homicides within 250 feet of the cameras were down, they spiked in the areas 250 to 500 feet from the cameras - indicating people just moved down the street to kill each other. Other violent crimes had no change. The only cameras' only positive effect appears to be the 22 percent drop in property crime within 100 feet of the cameras, though people broke into cars parked near the cameras at the same rate as they did before the cameras were installed, according to the study released today. The cameras have been a point of contention in recent months between Mayor Gavin Newsom, who wants 25 more installed, and several members of the Board of Supervisors and Police Commission who say they're not doing any good and are an invasion of privacy.
Comments