Millions of closed-circuit television CCTV cameras are installed in streets and businesses throughout the world with the stated goal of reducing crime and increasing public safety.
The United Kingdom is one of the most enthusiastic proponents, with an estimated 1. Chicago reportedly has at least 15, cameras installed in one of the largest U. CCTV cameras also have the potential of creating unintended effects, good and bad. Cameras could also promote a false sense of security and lead citizens to take fewer precautions, or they could also cause more crimes to be reported, and thus lead to a perceived increase in crime. And as with the revelations of widespread data collection by the U.
National Security Administration, the indiscriminate gathering of information on law-abiding citizens, however well-intentioned, has the potential for misuse. The Washington Post reported in February that new aerial video surveillance technologies are being deployed that can monitor virtually everything in an area the size of a small city. These include:. Below is a selection of studies that shed light on the use of CCTV cameras, in particular their effects on crime.
The current study contributes to the literature by testing the influence of several micro-level factors on changes in crime levels within CCTV areas of Newark, NJ. Location quotients, controlling for viewshed size and control-area crime incidence, measured changes in the levels of six crime categories, from the pre-installation period to the post-installation period.
Ordinary least squares regression models tested the influence of specific micro-level factorsβenvironmental features, camera line-of-sight, enforcement activity, and camera designβon each crime category. Results: First, the influence of environmental features differed across crime categories, with specific environs being related to the reduction of certain crimes and the increase of others. Second, CCTV-generated enforcement was related to the reduction of overall crime, violent crime and theft-from-auto.
