Posted on 08/13/2006 7:47:20 AM PDT by JTN
Surveillance cameras like those authorized by the D.C. Council for police investigations and now being put in place have shown limited success in decreasing violent crime in other cities.
Baltimore, for example, set up about 80 cameras in May 2005 in high-crime neighborhoods. Volunteers and retired law-enforcement personnel monitor the images in real time, but the cameras have not helped put criminals behind bars.
"Generally, the State's Attorney's Office has not found them to be a useful tool to prosecutors," office spokeswoman Margaret Burns said. "They're good for circumstantial evidence, but it definitely isn't evidence we find useful to convict somebody of a crime."
(Excerpt) Read more at washtimes.com ...
Ping
Maybe be real police officers, with geniune guns, handcuffs, and billy clubs, are what is needed?
Did they ever think that criminals are well aware of the location of these cameras? I am sure most good shoplifters are.
I've seen these cameras in Baltimore, they have a flashing blue light on top to attract attention. It's not a matter of catching people, it's trying to scare people into not committing crime. So pathetic it's funny to me.
Used to own a CCTV company and cameras in stores are to watch employees and record robberies. Shoplifters caught are just a bonus.
I am completely against the idea of the government keeping tabs on its citizens with cameras. If you want to deter crime, make the punishment stiff enough, and make it stick.
Those who advocate the expansion of government power are rarely swayed by ample evidence that the plans they advocate are ineffective or even counterproductive. Look at all of those who advocate a Canada-style health care system in spite of the Canadian experience, or those who agitate for higher taxes in spite of the great success Eastern European economies have had with low, flat tax regimes.
Agreed. The argument given will be that they don't have enough cameras. 100 times as many cameras will be installed, and then they will say they need more people to watch them.
Outside my front door I do not mind a camera at all. Especially in high crimes areas
And let the honest citizens carry concealed firearms.
amen
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I am opposed to these sort of cameras, but I don't think that number of criminal convictions is really an accurate measure of their effectiveness on crime.
Since they are well marked, a better measure would be to compare the number of street crimes before their installation to the number after their installation. Maybe their value is only preventative in nature.
No money in it.
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