Baltimore City homicide closure rate fails to significantly improve with the use of police surveillance cameras

A study of year 2012 Baltimore City homicides shows that the presence of public police surveillance cameras do not lead to a significant increase in homicide closure rate.

In the year 2012 Baltimore City had 217 homicides. Of those homicides, as of May 12, 2013, 72 have been closed by the following events: Someone has been charged in the murder, the police know what happened but refuse to press charges, or the suspect has died. In 2012 Baltimore City utilized 587 public surveillance cameras that were monitored by the city police department. Cameras were installed at roadway intersections and recorded video imagery in all directions. 34 of the city homicides occurred within a one block distance from a police surveillance camera. One block is defined as within a 100 street address value of the intersection where a camera is installed. Here are the homicide case closure results:

Of the 217 city homicides in th year 2012, 72 of them have been closed yielding an overall closure rate of 33.2%.

34 homicides occurred within one city block of a police CCTV camera. Of those homicides, 12 have been closed yielding a closure rate of 35.3%

183 homicides did not occur near a police cameras. Of those homicides 60 have been closed yielding a no-camera closure rate of 32.8%.

The increase of homicide case closures near a police surveillance camera over those that did not occur near a camera was a paltry 2.5%.

The 2012 city homicides that occurred within one block of a surveillance camera, and information regarding their case closure is as follows:
No.NameAddress Block FoundMurdered By/NotesNo. of police cameras on block
1Doral Hinton2400 Ashland Avenue1 camera
2Travis Spencer4400 Park Heights Avenue1 Camera
3Jerry Isaac2800 Greenmount Avenue2 cameras
4Tyrice Forney400 Oxford Court3 cameras
5Javon Johnson2200 West North Avenue2 cameras
6Dexter Jones Jr2600 West North AvenueGuy Thomas charged1 camera
7Ronnell Chaney500 East 21st Street1 camera
8Chauncey Hardy900 Valley StreetHerbert Mayes charged1 camera
9Brandon Simms400 Watty Court2 cameras
10Mark Day1500 West North AvenueDontae Crawford charged2 cameras
11Cortez Lemon400 West Saratoga StreetTroy Harrison charged2 cameras
12Cheryl Thomas400 Cummings CourtEdward Ford charged3 cameras
13Terrence Anderson600 North Eutaw Street2 cameras
14Cornell Booker300 Whitridge Avenuefamily dispute1 camera
15Derrick Lawson4000 West Franklin Street1 camera
16Dominick Brown1500 Gough StreetDominique Washington charged3 cameras
17Travis Miller1100 North Milton Street1 camera
18Dawan Evans600 Pitcher Street1 camera
19Jermaine Blue1400 Poplar Grove StreetEdward Ellis and Zebary Pearson Jr. and Antoine Dorsey all charged1 camera
20Charles Johnson1800 West North AvenueJames Pitts and Charles Brogden both charged2 cameras
21Anthony Cureton2700 Giles Road1 camera
22Sterling Parker1900 Walbrook Avenue2 cameras
23Audie Mickens1700 Presstman Street1 camera
24Nabil Epps2700 West North AvenueWendielle Hall charged1 camera
25Clarence Ross200 South Pulaski Street1 camera
26Elliot Lee Jr600 North Belnord Avenue1 camera
27Tashawna Jones300 East 26th StreetTyrone Alston charged1 camera
28John Moore3100 Garrison Boulevard2 cameras
29Erwin Daniels600 North Lakewood Avenue1 camera
30Daniel Pearson2600 Greenmount AvenueTerry Addison charged2 cameras
31Adonay Garcia-Wilson2800 Boarman1 camera
32Thomas Rawlings1800 North Fulton Street2 cameras
33Brent Nickens2300 Westwood Avenue2 cameras
34Thomas Cunion1100 Webb Court(Latrobe Homes)1 camera