Funding Agency: National Institute of Justice

Principal Investigator: Joel Caplan

Co-Principal Investigator: Leslie Kennedy, Eric Piza (Newark Police Department)

Abstract: This project seeks to fill gaps in knowledge on the use of CCTV by law enforcement through the creation of “transferable lessons” largely absent in the current literature. The proposal calls for a multi-level analysis of the Newark, NJ Police Department’s video surveillance system. The analysis is separated into three components. The first component will identify and contextualize the best places for CCTV camera placement through an analysis of the micro-level features of camera sites. The second component will assess the current process by which the Newark Police Department responds to incidents detected by CCTV. The final component is a randomized experiment to test the effects of a dedicated team of patrol units dispatched by CCTV operators on the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the video surveillance operation.