New Rochelle wants to spend $190,000 to install security cameras in downtown New Rochelle. A new study from NYU raises some questions about the effectiveness of security cameras to deter criminal activity. For proponents of installing such cameras in New Rochelle the question is whether the cost both monetarily and in reduce civil liberties is worth the benefit of possibly solving crimes that might be solved anyway.
The New York Times asks Do Surveillance Cameras Cut Crime?: “A study out of N.Y.U. questions how much surveillance cameras deter crimes, though law enforcement uses video footage to solve them.
The New Rochelle school system has already spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on security camera systems at the public schools but routinely fails to turn over evidence of student-on-student crimes committed at the school under the guise of “privacy concerns” for students. The real reason, of course, is a desire to suppress information about the level of criminal activity in the public schools as part of a broader public relations effort to present the District’s schools as safe. Somewhat self-servingly, the District has turned over security camera video to police when crimes are committed involving school district property.