The financial implications of merging proactive CCTV monitoring and directed police patrol: a cost–benefit analysis

Abstract

Objectives This study presents a cost-benefit analysis of an intervention pairing proactive CCTV monitoring with directed police patrol in Newark, NJ. A recent randomized control trial found that the strategy generated significant crime reductions in treatment areas relative to control areas. The current study focuses on the financial implications of the experimental strategy through a cost-benefit analysis. Methods The study begins by measuring the costs and benefits associated with the experimental strategy, the findings of which can inform agencies with existing CCTV infrastructure. Follow-up analyses measure the costs and benefits of the intervention for agencies absent existing CCTV infrastructure, meaning a CCTV system would have to be funded in addition to the intervention outputs. Alongside overall benefits, this study presents the tangible cost savings afforded to the Criminal Justice system as well as to each of the separate criminal justice (CJ) system components: Policing, Courts, and Corrections. Results We found the experimental strategy to be highly cost effective for agencies with existing CCTV infrastructure. However, when the cost of the CCTV system is

The crime prevention effect of CCTV in public places: a propensity score analysis

“…However, examples of successful public systems are not completely absent. In addition, despite the financial commitments associated with CCTV, cost-benefit analyses suggest that achieved crime reductions can offset costs and even yield longer term monetary savings (La Vigne et al 2011), though CCTV may be more cost beneficial to society on a whole than the criminal justice system or any individual system component, including policing (Piza et al 2016). Farrington et al (2007) and Welsh and Farrington (2009a) found that CCTV worked best when integrated alongside other crime control strategies and when camera coverage was high.…”

The effect of public surveillance cameras on crime clearance rates

“…Therefore, the benefits of CCTV should exceed the cost of installation and maintenance for running the surveillance system. Piza, Gilchrist, Caplan, Kennedy and O'Hara (2016) argued that a proactive CCTV system can be cost effective for agencies with pre-existing CCTV infrastructure because they found the cost benefits in the Newark CCTV Directed Patrol strategy were more than $6.99 for every $1 invested.…”

“…Results from those studies show that CCTV's do reduce crime (Piza et al, 2019), but such crime reductions do not unambiguously justify their cost (Piza et al, 2016;Ratcliffe & Groff, 2019).…”

The Criminogenic Effect of Marijuana Dispensaries in Denver, Colorado: A Microsynthetic Control Quasi-Experiment and Cost-Benefit Analysis

“…10 By using both criminal justice and victim measures, we attempt to provide a complete account of crime costs by measuring both the impact of crime on municipal budgets (e.g., criminal justice costs) as well as the societal costs inflicted on residents of Denver generally. All crime costs were converted into 2015 (the median of our 3-year post period) dollars via the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Price Index Inflation calculator (McCollister, French, & Feng, 2010;Piza, Gilchrist, Caplan, Kennedy, & O'Hara, 2016). 11 To measure the monetary benefits provided by recreational marijuana dispensaries, we collected two categories of revenue: sales conducted by recreational dispensaries 12 and recreational marijuana taxes collected by the City of Denver.…”