Urban Institute Study on Surveillance Cameras in Chicago
[From Special Segment: Blue Light Watchers - 3/31/10 - Chicago News - abc7chicago.com]
A few more tidbits about the Urban Institute study on cameras in Chicago have come out, here is an older post on the study. The core part of this findings are:
Dr. Nancy LaVigne led the study which focused on two neighborhoods – Humboldt Park and West Garfield Park. Each has a fairly high concentration of cameras. In Humboldt, the conclusion is that the cameras have had a real impact. Drug, robbery, weapons offenses, and overall crime dropped significantly after cameras arrived. The same, however, is not true in West Garfield where there was no significant change pre and post camera.
So why would they have an impact in one neighborhood and not in another? There are a number of possible explanations, but the short answer is researchers don’t know.
What they can say, however, is that if you combine the numbers from the two neighborhoods, the cameras still have a significant impact on crime.
The presentation of this study points out a potential big hole in the study. There was another factor contributing to the crime reduction in Humboldt Park, other than the cameras. The police officers over at Second City Cop have pointed this out. The Urban Institute has a rich history of doing good work, so I am going to hold off commenting until I see the final report (which is due out this summer).
I should point out that the Urban Institute had the cooperation of the CPD in gaining access to three years of data. I have been pushing the CPD for reports and data on the effectiveness of the cameras for years and have received little cooperation.
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