Using surveillance cameras to protect property is said to lead to all the wrong outcomes:

That raises important questions: Safe for whom, and from what? While homeowners may believe their cameras and posts are preventing break-ins and theft, some research has shown that surveillance is a poor deterrent of such property crimes. And by trusting their cameras to keep watch for them, users render themselves blind to the ways in which community surveillance breeds paranoia, perpetuates prejudice and puts people at heightened risk of police or vigilante violence. Cameras, cops and paranoia: How Amazon’s surveillance network alters L.A. neighborhoods (msn.com)

The story implies that taking steps to protect your property, and especially the use of security cameras, is racist. The story says surveillance cameras do not reduce crime, but does not say what then could we do to help prevent property crime?

Oddly, an “historically Black university”, Morgan State, is going to install fencing around the university campus and security cameras.

The story writer has a BA in German and Italian studies from University College London, and an MS in journalism from Columbia and has run “workshops for journalists across the U.S. as well as from Asia, Latin America, and Europe”, and worked in Hong Kong for two years. She has learned to think in a specific way and sees the world through her mono-focus view as suggested by her own list of highlighted stories.

I once lived in a home where the every other home on the street was the victim of crimes. One of our dogs was shot in the face, one inch from her eye, and shots went through 2 windows of our home. Our neighbor had a shot fired through her Dad’s pickup, parked out front.

Long story I am not going into here but the situation resolved when our next door neighbor – the neighborhood meth distributor – moved out (or more specifically, was foreclosed on and sold to a “we buy homes for cash” buyer). He and his family were white, if that means anything. Information shared by neighbors likely played a role in their departure, as well. I cannot say more than that.

While living with this for about 18 months, I installed security cameras and motion activated lights but doing that was racist or something.