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In NJ, Higher Tech Lowers Crime

Posted by kdawson on from the can-you-say-false-positive dept.

crimeandpunishment sends along this snip from an AP story carried on Skunkpost.com: "High tech means low crime in a New Jersey city that has used an arsenal of advanced technology to sharply lower one of the highest crime rates in the nation. And now East Orange is poised to become the first city in the country to take high tech crime fighting to a whole new level ... surveillance cameras with sensors that can be programmed to identify crimes as they unfold."

2 of 219 comments (clear)

  1. crime rate != incarceration rate. by elucido · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Everyone talks about crime rates and lowering the crime rate. Most criminals are poor so lowering the crime rate would mean that if you aren't rich and sheltered that people you know, grew up with, will probably be going to jail so as to win political points and "lower" the crime rate.

    Lowering the crime rate should not be the goal. Protecting citizens should be the goal.

  2. You are 20 years too late. by elucido · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Of course it's dangerous. It's dangerous because their goal is to "lower the crime rate" indiscriminately. This often means increasing the incarceration rate. This often means increasing the arrest rate for victimless crimes.

    Why don't we focus on the incarceration rate and seek to lower it to as low as possible? Why don't we seek to decrease the arrest rate for victimless crimes? Anybody have an answer that isn't racist, sexist, or elitist?