QUESTION
What is the relationship between surveillance cameras and crime rates?
2:50:28
·
82 sec
The council member questions whether surveillance cameras effectively reduce crime rates, citing an increase in burglaries in NYC despite the prevalence of cameras.
- The executive director states that data from cities around the world shows no correlation between camera deployment and crime reduction.
- He argues that if cameras were a cure-all for crime, there would be very different crime rates in cities with extensive camera networks.
- He suggests there are other factors influencing crime trends beyond just the presence of surveillance cameras.
Robert Holden
2:50:28
But one other question, we had we had in 1990, we had a 132 burglaries.
2:50:37
In 2024, we have 13,000.
2:50:42
There because of technology, I feel that that's because of cameras.
2:50:46
It's it's it's it's some there are some good things.
2:50:50
We talked about this at a previous hearing that the the camera that catches the the the serial killer that killed six people that and we caught them before they could strike again.
2:51:01
What's wrong with surveillance in that regard on police matters?
Albert Fox Cahn
2:51:06
But council member, we have
Jennifer Gutiérrez
2:51:08
Council member, can we can we wrap up?
2:51:10
We have another set of questions.
Albert Fox Cahn
2:51:12
I would just say we have Thousands and thousands of cities around the world, which have deployed different types of technologies, and we can look at those as a experiment to see whether the use of cameras correlates with the reduction in crime and the data is clear.
2:51:26
It doesn't.
2:51:27
I would say that if it was as simple as that, with cameras just being the cure all, we would see very different crime rates in a lot of American cities, we would see very different public safety scenarios around the world.
2:51:43
And to me, I would say it's clear that there are very different factors that are pushing those trends.
Robert Holden
2:51:50
Thank you.
