Newark and the Future of Crime Fighting

theodp writes "Newark Mayor Cory Booker is betting that cutting-edge technology will reduce crime and spark an economic renaissance. From a newly opened Surveillance Operations Center, cops armed with joystick controllers monitor live video feeds from more than 100 donated cameras scattered across the crime-ridden city. The moves are drawing kudos from businesses like Amazon subsidiary Audible.com, which has moved its HQ to downtown Newark, where space is 50% cheaper than in Manhattan. But are citizens giving up too much privacy?"

Comments

Re:Except, of course, cameras don't work.

[dattaway]

I can confirm these cameras DO NOT prevent crime. I have a drug house in front of mine. Lots of vandalism, theft, noise, and hooliganism. So I got a top of the line $2500 PTZ network camera. Here's my little story:

The camera did what I wanted it to do. It takes clear snapshots of the fistfulls of cash, the hits from the water bongs, and where they hide the goods. Great pictures. Gave them to the police. That was months ago. Drug house still going strong. Recently, the camera caught the guy returning from a bad hit and run accident and tried to hide his car in the back yard. The guy is still running around. If I bought the camera to watch a bunch of thugs, its working. To reduce crime, haha. They know the camera is here and wave their middle finger at it.

Here's my Axis network cam if you want to play with it:

http://www.dattaway.net/

There's links at the bottom of the camera page for some of the pictures I saved as the drama continues...

Re:"so this is how liberty dies, to thunderous app

[ShieldW0lf]

Screw your privacy. This is great. It should be accessible to the public at all times. This is a way to watch the cops and the politicians, not the other way around.