Are Crime Cameras Really Worth the Money?

In May 2010, a 30-year-old Pakistani-American drove his Nissan Pathfinder into one of the most scrutinized urban spaces on the planet and parked along the curb.

In the hours that followed, more than 80 city surveillance cameras – as well as dozens of private cameras, constant media feeds and amateur tourist videographers - failed to capture an image of Faisal Shahzad and his suspicious, fertilizer-packed SUV in Times Square. All those electronic eyes couldn't even provide police investigators an image of the suspect (the balding middle-aged man standing near the vehicle in popular security footage had nothing to do with the case).

Instead, a street vendor pointed out the smoking Pathfinder to mounted police officers, leading to Shahzad's capture more than 50 hours later. In the end it wasn't high-tech 21st century surveillance that caught the crook, but good old-fashioned community vigilance. "The successful model for getting the alleged 'bad guy,''' wrote the Boston Globe, "is more Sam Spade than Jack Bauer."

For years, video surveillance has been seen as a potent weapon in the fight against urban crime. The Department of Homeland Security lays out millions of dollars to throw a surveillance net on our cities. Last year, it spent more than $830 million in 64 metropolitan areas as part of its Urban Area Security Initiative – up from $15 million and seven cities for the same program in 2009. This year the total is $662 million across 31 cities.