Elizabeth GreenspanFeb 2, 2023
Drew Harwell

New: Memphis spent $10 million installing thousands of 24/7 police-linked surveillance cameras, called SkyCops, on the promise they'd deter crime. But crime's only gone up. And even the cops who beat Tyre Nichols to death weren't deterred.

“Surveillance doesn’t prevent crime, even police crime. These officers knew they were on camera, and they still did this.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/02/skycop-nichols-memphis-crime/

Memphis’s SkyCop cameras couldn’t prevent Tyre Nichols’s beating death

Nichols’s killing has offered a stark reality check of how ineffective the cameras can be in the face of real-world violence.

The Washington Post
Feb 2, 2023 at 2:00pmWeb
Show threadDrew HarwellFeb 2, 2023

One SkyCop camera captured the SCORPION cops' brutality in Nichols' killing. And thankfully so, given how shaky and obstructed their own body cameras were during the attack.

NAACP Memphis president:
“We put SkyCop cameras up to assist the police in fighting crime in our community. And yet they come and commit the very same crimes we are trying to fight against."

But ...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/02/skycop-nichols-memphis-crime/

Memphis’s SkyCop cameras couldn’t prevent Tyre Nichols’s beating death

Nichols’s killing has offered a stark reality check of how ineffective the cameras can be in the face of real-world violence.

The Washington Post
Show threadDrew HarwellFeb 2, 2023

SkyCop's actual deterrent effect on crime in Memphis is totally unproven. People have broken into cars and fired guns in clear view of the cameras and not been caught.

Journalists with the Daily Memphian did an incredible investigation in 2021 that found that the cameras were cited in less than 3% of the more than 74,000 crime reports filed that year

https://dailymemphian.com/section/metrocriminal-justice/article/25348/memphis-skycops-investigation-crime-up-over-decade

Memphis SkyCops investigation crime increase over decade

SkyCop cameras have cost Memphis more than $10 million since 2010, but an analysis shows the city experienced more crime with the camera system than without it, and that cameras rarely help investigations.

The Daily Memphian
Show threadDrew HarwellFeb 2, 2023

I talked to the former Memphis police surveillance manager who installed the SkyCop camera that recorded Nichols' beating (and who now works for SkyCop).

He said, “Crimes of passion cannot be deterred. ... In the Nichols case, that was a crime of passion, and it was caught on video."

He says surveillance is the future, so get used to it:

“It’s the most indiscriminate form of policing there is. The camera doesn’t care. It just records.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/02/02/skycop-nichols-memphis-crime/

Memphis’s SkyCop cameras couldn’t prevent Tyre Nichols’s beating death

Nichols’s killing has offered a stark reality check of how ineffective the cameras can be in the face of real-world violence.

The Washington Post
Show threadDrew HarwellFeb 2, 2023

This isn't just a Memphis issues. Tens of thousands of "real-time crime" cameras now blanket American cities, bringing their own drawbacks: oversurveillance, unequal policing, wasted money. If they're not deterring crime, what's the point?

“Are we just going to put these cameras in front of everybody’s house and monitor them and see if anybody’s up to anything?”

Here's a free-to-read gift link for this story: https://wapo.st/3Y25Anw

Memphis’s SkyCop cameras couldn’t prevent Tyre Nichols’s beating death

Nichols’s killing has offered a stark reality check of how ineffective the cameras can be in the face of real-world violence.

The Washington Post
Show threadGen X-WingFeb 2, 2023
@drewharwell Ask East Germany how mass surveillance worked out and how Stasi treated people.
Show threadLady GeeFeb 2, 2023
@drewharwell It’s a slippery slope but my partner’s work van (contractor) was stolen and they found it and caught the thieves within 2 hours 🤷🏼‍♀️ Sheriffs said they catch almost every car theft in that city because of the cameras.
Show threadTom DrummondFeb 2, 2023
@drewharwell @dangillmor …because police don’t work to make communities better. These huge resources have to be directed at services and opportunities for communities. We have to talk about resource extraction by the extremely wealthy.
Show threadrocopltxFeb 2, 2023

@drewharwell

Hey there 👋 Wanted to give thanks for sharing a gift link to read your article.

This is *very* minor, but when I tried to read the article by clicking the visual embed, I was hit by a paywall. As expected, though, clicking the gift link directly worked 👍

I don't know if it's something any of your other readers have noticed; but either way, I figured I'd share.

Thanks again for all your hard work; have a good day ahead 😃

Show thread2xfoFeb 2, 2023

@drewharwell
I don't remember how or why but one time I found myself in a security office of a mall where they were monitoring cameras. I was pretty disturbed because they were mostly looking down blouses.

I don't assume cops will do better.

Show thread2xfoFeb 2, 2023
@drewharwell
True that "it just records", but these records are controlled. I can't help but think that if the officers had been white this video would not be available to us yet.
Show threadDrew HarwellFeb 2, 2023
@RnDanger The records are controlled by the police. So, yes, think it's fair to question whether there are other instances where video evidence would uncover more instances of police brutality we don't know about.
Show threadandr_w | andy - More on BskyFeb 2, 2023

@drewharwell

This professional calls surveillance as policing?! Surveillance is just that. What communities want with policing surveillance cannot provide.

Show threadhypervisibleFeb 2, 2023
@drewharwell Ughhhh. How many things wrong can dude fit into less than 50 words.
Show threadDan HonFeb 2, 2023
@hypervisible @drewharwell turns out the police don't care either 😬
Show threadPhilip N CohenFeb 2, 2023
@drewharwell seems like the system just got five murderers off the street. Not bad!
Show threadWETinNCFeb 2, 2023
@drewharwell Although video data can be powerful, the amount and timely analysis required to deter crime will have to rely on AI
Show threadSteyrshrekFeb 2, 2023
@drewharwell this is the lull. They are just installing a he infra structure. Wait till they release facial recognition on a mass scale and then it will be monitored by AI. This is just the thin edge of the wedge.
Show threadPhillip Hallam-BakerFeb 2, 2023
@drewharwell They called it SkyCorp because the domain they really wanted, SkyNet was already taken?
Show threadJohn PierceFeb 2, 2023

@drewharwell Cameras are not a "deterrent". They are proof of evidence when a crime is committed.

This is a silly take.

Show threadJohn GordonFeb 2, 2023

@drewharwell

Justice is a human need even in the absence of deterrence. The cameras don’t deter, but they aid prosecution.

Moreover this video evidence *could* do a form of deterrence. It could be used to reform policing by motivating an aviation systems level approach to prevention of policing failures. (In theory. In practice humans are too dumb to do this)

Show threadtimboFeb 2, 2023
@drewharwell
I understand that the Army had a saying. We can’t make you do anything. All we can do is make you wish you had.
Show threadSpicewallaFeb 2, 2023

@drewharwell

IIRC, London is the most surveilled city in the world with the highest density of cameras. Its been more than a decade since I looked into the results, but last I remember the cameras there were not effective in reducing crime over the long term. People committed spontaneous crimes at the same rate, and the premeditated crimes mostly moved to areas known not to have cameras.