Program Evaluation of the Denver Police HALO Camera Surveillance System: A Geospatial Statistical Analysis of Crime
Abstract
The Denver Police Department has recently implemented a new high-tech surveillance
program to prevent crime throughout the city. The High Activity Location Observation
(HALO) cameras are an improvement over traditional closed-circuit television cameras
because they have full pivot and zoom capabilities that can transmit video to police
headquarters in real time. The department has installed more than 100 HALO cameras
at various high crime areas in Denver as of 2012. This investigation attempts a program
evaluation of the surveillance system through a geospatial statistical analysis of
crime. Although cameras have been installed across the city, this investigation focuses
on cameras installed in Police District #6, which encompasses the central business
district.
This investigation establishes a statistically significant relationship between the
installation of the HALO cameras and a reduction of thefts from motor vehicles in
the viewshed of the cameras in Denver Police District #6. The difference-in-difference
econometric approach is rigorous enough to infer causality in the relationship. Other
categories of crime also may have been reduced due to the HALO cameras, but the statistical
evidence is not strong enough to make a causal claim. Based upon the empirical results,
I recommend three strategies: (1) collaborating with local BIDs to expand new HALO
video cameras into other areas experiencing high levels of theft from motor vehicles,
(2) upgrading the information system to cross-reference NIBRS crime incident data
to actual arrests and convictions, and (3) implementing a randomized controlled experiment
in the next phase of the HALO program.
Type
Master's projectDepartment
The Sanford School of Public PolicyPermalink
https://hdl.handle.net/10161/5146Citation
Papazian, John (2012). Program Evaluation of the Denver Police HALO Camera Surveillance System: A Geospatial
Statistical Analysis of Crime. Master's project, Duke University. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/5146.More Info
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