Surveillance Camera Not So Helpful

Something to think about before supporting video surveillance cameras everywhere (like in London), there are problems.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports S.F. public housing cameras no help in homicide arrests. "The 178 video cameras that keep watch on San Francisco public housing developments have never helped police officers arrest a homicide suspect even though about a quarter of the city's homicides occur on or near public housing property, city officials say."

The article is pretty good. Though Bruce Schneier corrects this: "He added that he thinks the cameras may have "a scarecrow effect" in that they give residents the feeling they are safer when they actually have little impact on crime." As Schneier points out, "That's not a scarecrow effect. A scarecrow is security theater that works: something that doesn't actually prevent crime, but deters it by scaring off criminals. Mirkarimi is saying that they have the opposite effect; the cameras make victims feel safer than they really are."