Didn’t this first get deployed in Philly around 2000? Seems I remember reading about for a long time now, and somehow I’ve never seen stats on its effectiveness. Like has it ever assisted in making an arrest that wouldn’t have happened otherwise?
On the surface, it seems like a useful idea. But why should a city spend 11 mil/yr on it? There’s an opportunity cost with that 11mil,how else could it have been spent to reduce crime issues? Would those other ways have more impact on crime, the same, or less?
Seems like if a private company thinks they have a solution, they’d be able to present that in a convincing manner. Even that 47% stat has me wondering, what is it really indicating? Did it make any difference in those cases? If so, what?
Also, call me cynical, but these companies have what, dozens of microphones throughout a city. What kind of data can they gather?