The Effect of Cameras on Crime: The Pullman Safety Camera Initiative

• In Event: New Findings from the Smart Policing Initiative

Abstract

The Pullman Safety Camera Initiative (SCI) was an evidence-based policing research project funded by the Smart Policing Initiative that concluded in April 2014. The SCI project examined the effect of newly installed safety cameras on crime rates and perceptions of police in the most problematic areas of the city of Pullman, WA, home to Washington State University. The cameras were hypothesized to affect crime in three ways – 1) deter individuals from committing crimes, 2) improve police response to situations likely to escalate into crimes, and 3) contribute to improved criminal justice outcomes through the use of video evidence collected by the cameras. Spatial and temporal analyses are expected to reveal an initial increase in crime rates in the local area as the safety cameras catch crimes that might normally be missed and go unreported, but then decline as the cameras take their expected effects. Final results will be presented and implications for theory and policy will be discussed.

Authors

• Michael Gaffney, Washington State University

• Zachary R. Hays, California State University, Bakersfield