Evaluating the effectiveness of CCTV cameras in crime prevention using geospatial techniques

Abstract

The city of Kampala has a record of high crime rate with increased series of outrageous incidents such as the assassination of prominent people in Uganda. This called for use of closed-circuit television (CCTV) technology to help in crime prevention and investigation. At present, the government is focusing on the expansion of the national CCTV Network project to cover the whole country and limited studies about examining CCTV effectiveness in detecting and deterring crime since installation. The main objective of this research is to discern whether the newly installed CCTV cameras are a successful crime control measure in four police stations found in the Jinja Road police division. The real crime incidents and CCTV locations of the study area were converted into spatial data using GIS. The data was analyzed using Kernel Density Estimation analysis, viewshed analysis, and Weight Displacement Quotient analysis There was a considerably total crime reduction after CCTV installation in two selected comparison sites and an increase in Kololo police station relative to Jinja Road Police study area.