Ideas from elsewhere: Crime Fighting

Surveillance Cameras

Embraced in Chicago and being tested in Philadelphia, surveillance cameras in high-crime areas are a way for police departments to maximize policing without hiring a lot more police.

Chicago started with 30 cameras in 2003. Today, there are more than 2,300 in high-crime and drug-activity areas. Chicago police say crime has dropped in areas where the cameras are deployed. The cameras are monitored by employees in the city's Operations Center.

Chicago also has installed 50 smart cameras with microphones that can recognize the sound of gunshots, focus on the location where the sound came from, and call 911, all within minutes.

Civil libertarians object to public surveillance with cameras. Michael Nutter has endorsed the idea and promised more cameras in Philadelphia if elected.

Stop and Frisk

Nutter got flak in the campaign for his stop-and-frisk proposal for high-crime neighborhoods. This policy would let police search people they suspect of carrying firearms. Controversy centers on civil-liberties issues and fear of police abuse. The system is used in a number of cities - including New York, where there has been a dramatic and continuing drop in crime. Proponents say it's legal under various U.S. Supreme Court rulings, if done in the appropriate way.

In Philadelphia, it would be targeted toward stopping people with unlawful firearms before push comes to shove and a shooting occurs. Eighty percent of the homicides in the city are shootings, a figure that has risen consistently over the last 20 years. If Nutter is mayor, look for stop-and-frisk to come to Philadelphia.