Law enforcement gearNew Haven, Connecticut police begin installing security cameras

Published 1 July 2011

New Haven police plan to install twenty-one surveillance cameras in the city’s hot spots for crime. The cameras will give officers a 360 degree view of an area’s streets and sidewalks; police hope that the cameras will help reduce New Haven’s rising violent crime rate; in the first half of 2011, more than eighteen people have been killed

New Haven police add cameras to their tool box // Source: policeguide.com

New Haven, Connecticut is the latest city to install security cameras in an effort to combat crime.

New Haven police plan to install twenty-one surveillance cameras in the city’s hot spots. The cameras will give officers a 360 degree view of an area’s streets and sidewalks.

Adam Joseph, a spokesman for the city, was careful to note that the cameras would not be used to look into windows to protect privacy.

Police hope that the cameras will help reduce New Haven’s rising violent crime rate. So far in the first half of 2011, more than eighteen people have been killed, while in 2010 twenty-four people were murdered and thirteen in 2009.

Authorities plan to use footage recorded by the cameras to help identify suspects after a crime is committed, and hope to eventually stream the footage live in New Haven’s ten police substations and laptops in patrol cars. 

According to Joseph, an additional thirty cameras may be installed later this year, but that depends on federal funding.

Installation of the cameras is expected to be completed by the end of July and they were purchased with DHS grants awarded two years ago.

New Haven now joins cities like Chicago, New York, and London which already have extensive security camera networks in place. In some locations, officials have even installed gunshot detection technology as well as analytic software that can automatically detect if individuals on camera are about to commit crimes.