Note: The California Research Bureau (CRB) requested that the University of Southern California (USC) undertake the study listed below. CRB's 1997 report, Public Video Surveillance: Is It An Effective Crime Prevention Tool?, remains one of CRB's most requested reports.
Measuring the Effects of Video Surveillance on Crime in Los Angeles
Aundreia Cameron, Elke Kolodinski, Heather May, and Nicholas Williams (CRB-08-007, May, 2008)
This study, which examines the effectiveness of video surveillance (also call closed-circuit television or CCTV) in reducing and deterring crime in two Los Angeles neighborhoods, was requested by the California Research Bureau and undertaken by graduate students in the USC School of Policy, Planning and Development. It discusses the rise of CCTV as a crime reduction tool, describes empirical analyses of CCTV's effectiveness, and presents data about its impact on crime in the Jordan Downs public housing development and Hollywood Boulevard's "Walk of Fame." The authors conclude with a number of policy lessons.
PDF version (2MB) is available online.
For online California Research Bureau reports, please visit the California Research Bureau page on the California State Library website.