A raising number of cities worldwide use Police Video Surveillance cams to prevent criminal activity, however little is known about whether these cams lower criminal offense or just relocate to other areas. This column research studies the impact of a large-scale intro of police-monitored electronic cameras in Montevideo, Uruguay. The findings indicate a 20% reduction in criminal activity in areas of the city where the electronic cameras lie, with no evidence of a displacement impact. The programme additionally appears to use value for cash compared with various other safety and security as well as criminal activity avoidance steps.
The effect of police-monitored cams
In an honest paper (Munyo and also Rossi 2019) we examine the effect of a large-scale intro of police-monitored electronic cameras( the funding city of Uruguay, with 1.5 million occupants). In 2013 the Ministry of the Interior of Uruguay started to install security video cameras in some areas of the city. These cams are continuously seen by law enforcement agent situated in a tracking centre that incorporates video clip security technology with the action of police patrol response.
Figures 1 as well as 2 summarise the geographical circulation of the areas kept track of by security cams, the variability in the installation days throughout different road sectors, and crime occurrence in October 2012 (before the start of the program). As usual, criminal activity is clustered in small locations that include not just the street segments covered by police-monitored cameras, however also various other locations around the city.
Areas where video cameras are mounted see a considerable decrease in crime
In order to examine the impact of this policy on criminal activity, we benefit from an one-of-a-kind database that consists of the universe of documented crime in the entire city of Montevideo, by street section, and also the area as well as the time of the installation of all police checking cams in the city. To recognize the result of Authorities Police Video Surveillance on crime, we utilize a difference-in-differences approach that manipulates the irregularity gradually and area in the intro of the video cameras. Our price quotes show that the presence of police-monitored electronic cameras is connected with a reduction in crime of about 20% in treated locations of the city.
What is the rationale behind these outcomes? In principle, the result of police surveillance on criminal offense might possibly work through prevention and also incapacitation. In spite of unscientific evidence of apprehensions made by authorities patrols signaled by policemans in the monitoring centre, our results are unlikely to show changes in the numbers of incarcerated lawbreakers. Thus, we believe that our price quotes should be interpreted as a deterrent result of police tracking on criminal offense.
