Public Surveillance Cameras and Crime: The Impact of Different Camera Types on Crime and Clearances

• NCJ Number: 309586
• Author(s): Lily Robin; Bryce E. Peterson; Daniel S. Lawrence
• Date Published: 2020
• Length: 12 pages
• Grant Number(s): 2015-R2-CX-K002
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)

Annotation

This document presents findings from an examination of Milwaukee Police Department’s efforts to improve their video surveillance program; it discusses how pan-tilt-zoom and panoramic cameras work and how their specific functions impact crime and support criminal investigations.

Abstract

This brief reviews the Milwaukee Police Department’s (MPD) efforts to optimize its surveillance system, specifically focusing on MPD’s use of two types of cameras, pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) and panoramic, at all intersections throughout the city. The document explains how PTZ and panoramic cameras work and how their specific functions address crime and support criminal investigations, describing the different but complementary purposes of the two types of cameras. The brief provides an overview of the MPD camera program, which began its optimization efforts in 2016 thanks to a National Institute of Justice grant to evaluate the public surveillance system. The study described in this document aims to address the gaps in MPD’s surveillance system and presents an exploratory analysis of PTZ and panoramic cameras’ impacts on crime and crime clearances. The authors’ goal was to determine the extent to which PTZ cameras, panoramic cameras, and combinations of the two cameras affect crime rates and clearances at metropolitan intersections. The document discusses the interview and observational data, crime arrest data, the optimization project’s methodology, and findings regarding the use and impact of the PTZ and panoramic cameras.