PRIVATE SECURITY CAMERA PROGRAM
“According to DC police, in 2019, [personal security] cameras were key in ‘advancing the investigation’ in 70% of that year’s homicide cases, and contributed to closing 40% of them.”
FUNDING OPPORTUNITY: HUB West Baltimore Community Development Corporation is currently seeking equity-focused funding to implement a free personal security camera pilot program, with the aim of engendering widespread adoption in the focus area, in order to test a hypothesis that comprehensive coverage could act as a significant deterrent to crime. The project would leverage targeted increased city subsidies for camera rebates and vouchers, and pair those subsidies with other additional free and reduced wifi costs for those homes that installed both front and back cameras. And finally, an installation assistance program would also be implemented, to help guide residents on install best practices, and in some cases perform the actual install for them. Full funding would require three components: 1) the city would offer a special increased camera rebate or voucher for residents of the study area; 2) Verizon (or some other entity) would offer a similar subsidy for free or reduced wifi for those residents installing cameras in the focus area that meet certain low-income thresholds; and 3) funds would be needed to hire, train and facilitate the instalation assistance for those residents that required it.
Force Multiplier
If there’s one thing law enforcement can do to lower crime rates and increase case closures that doesn’t involve a dramatic increase in aggressive policing, it’s growing the number of personal security cameras the police have access to. Just down the road in Washington, cameras have been invaluable to police, largely because they’re more common there. Why are they more common? Because, in addition to starting their program earlier, Washington rebates a far higher amount than Baltimore - so more, and better, personal security cameras can be installed on each home or business.
So Baltimore has some catching up to do, but HUB West Baltimore has an idea or two how to quickly do that. More on that in a second. But first… the tale of the tape.
Tale of Two Cities
According to DC police, in 2019, cameras were key in “advancing the investigation” in 70% of the year’s homicide cases, and contributed to closing 40% of them. DC’s then-police chief said, ““I personally believe it’s one of the advances in technology that has been most significant in helping law enforcement.” As you can see below though, Baltimore hasn’t made the same type of all-out commitment to this key crime-solving technology, but differences in homicide rates argue city leaders might want to look hard at this strategy.
1. https://citiwatch.baltimorecity.gov/; https://ovsjg.dc.gov/page/private-security-camera-rebate-program
2. Ibid
4. https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-city/bs-md-ci-crime-policy-20191230-zk2v2auuhbgq3f7zsh3t7rt6cm-story.html; https://mpdc.dc.gov/page/homicide-closure-rates
5. https://citiwatch.baltimorecity.gov/; https://ovsjg.dc.gov/page/private-security-camera-rebate-program
President Biden recently urged local officials to use COVID relief money to tamp down on crime, so now - while we have the little bit of money required - is the time to make a concerted, federally-funded push into this proven crime-fighting technology. The story of Washington is that more cameras mean less salaries may be needed to be added to the police force to achieve a meaningful increase in homicide clearance rates. And the question of equity is relevant to the subject as well, since it seems the subsidy for cameras in Washington is most prevalently utilized by wealthier residents. Getting greater uptake of the subsidy in lower income neighborhoods would seem to be a goal at least partially focused on equity.
The Deterrence Factor - a Pilot Study
One of the big questions of course is, can widespread personal security camera use in an elevated-crime area act as a significant deterrent? On this, we’re not sure - there’s no conclusive research yet. But HUB West Baltimore has an idea: we would like city leaders to consider using our focus area for a pilot study on widespread camera adoption and it’s ability to reduce crime. How do we get widespread camera adoption in HUB West Baltimore? Well, we up the maximum rebate for starters, and we work with Verizon in our focus area to implement a free wifi component as well, if front and back cameras are installed. And finally, we also offer install guidance, and actual help for certain qualified residents.