Wall Street Journal: Chicago’s Camera System Is Everywhere
The Wall Street Journal reports on the extensive CCTV (or camera surveillance) system set up in Chicago, Illinois. US cities are increasingly using camera surveillance systems, though their security benefits are questionable. I have often spoken about the fact that CCTV systems are neither effective nor cost-effective.
The costs of camera surveillance systems, in terms of civil liberties, are evident. However, there is also a financial cost. Numerous studies (some conducted by US and UK law enforcement agencies) have shown that CCTV systems have little effect on crime rates.
The Journal reports:
A giant web of video-surveillance cameras has spread across Chicago, aiding police in the pursuit of criminals but raising fears that the City of Big Shoulders is becoming the City of Big Brother.
The city links the 1,500 cameras that police have placed in trouble spots with thousands more — police won’t say how many — that have been installed by other government agencies and the private sector in city buses, businesses, public schools, subway stations, housing projects and elsewhere. Even home owners can contribute camera feeds.
Rajiv Shah, an adjunct professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago who has studied the issue, estimates that 15,000 cameras have been connected in what the city calls Operation Virtual Shield, its fiber-optic video-network loop.
The system is too vast for real-time monitoring by police staffers. But each time a citizen makes an emergency call, which happens about 15,000 times a day, the system identifies the caller’s location and instantly puts a video feed from the nearest camera up on a screen to the left of the emergency operator’s main terminal. The feeds, including ones that weren’t viewed in real time, can be accessed for possible evidence in criminal cases. [...]
Mr. Orozco dismisses worries about privacy abuse. The department logs in all users and can monitor what they are doing, he said, assuring accountability. He also said access to the command center is tightly controlled. He declined to discuss specifics of who is allowed inside the center. [...]
It’s difficult to tell how much Chicago’s system cuts crime. The city’s crime rates have declined steadily over the last 10 years, like those in many other cities.
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