We dig into the data around surveillance cameras, like CCTV and Flock automatic license plate readers, and talk about whether they prevent crime and make you safer. 

Have a question we should answer on the show? Click here to tell us using our online form, or email the team at ControlF@kuow.org

Support the show by supporting our home, KUOW Public Radio in Seattle.

Sources in this episode:
Automated License Plate Readers, Vehicle Theft, and Clearance
CCTV Surveillance for crime prevention: A 40-year systematic review with meta-analysis
Can place-based crime prevention impacts be sustained over long durations? 11-Year follow-up of a quasi-experimental evaluation of a CCTV project
Assessing causal effects under treatment heterogeneity: an evaluation of a CCTV program in Detroit
The effects of merging proactive CCTV monitoring with directed police patrol: a randomized controlled trial
Annual Surveillance Review: Technology Assisted Public Safety Pilot Program, City of Seattle
Consolidated Risk Surveillance Usage Review 2025, City of Seattle 

We dig into the data around surveillance cameras, like CCTV and Flock automatic license plate readers, and talk about whether they prevent crime and make you safer.&nbsp;
Have a question we should answer on the show? <a href="https://forms.office.com/r/4nGSfCuAML">Click here</a> to tell us using our online form, or email the team at ControlF@kuow.org
Support the show by supporting our home, <a href="https://www.kuow.org/donate/control-f-notes">KUOW Public Radio</a> in Seattle.
Sources in this episode:
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.crimrxiv.com/pub/zleg04q3/release/1">Automated License Plate Readers, Vehicle Theft, and Clearance</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/1745-9133.12419">CCTV Surveillance for crime prevention: A 40-year systematic review with meta-analysis</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12697">Can place-based crime prevention impacts be sustained over long durations? 11-Year follow-up of a quasi-experimental evaluation of a CCTV project</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-022-09519-9">Assessing causal effects under treatment heterogeneity: an evaluation of a CCTV program in Detroit</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-014-9211-x">The effects of merging proactive CCTV monitoring with directed police patrol: a randomized controlled trial</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/OIG/Audits/OIG_TAPS%202025.pdf">Annual Surveillance Review: Technology Assisted Public Safety Pilot Program, City of Seattle</a></li>
<li aria-level="1"><a href="https://www.seattle.gov/documents/Departments/OIG/Audits/Annual%20Consolidated%20Surveillance%20Review%202025.pdf">Consolidated Risk Surveillance Usage Review 2025, City of Seattle</a>&nbsp;</li>
</ul>

Control F is a podcast about data — hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data — and all the ways it influences our daily lives. In each episode, we dig deep on a topic and search through research, algorithms, and assumptions to bring you insights on how stuff works. In a world ruled by numbers, Control F reads between the (spreadsheet) lines to find the bigger story.

Control F is a podcast about data &mdash; hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data &mdash; and all the ways it influences our daily lives. In each episode, we dig deep on a topic and search through research, algorithms, and assumptions to bring you insights on how stuff works. In a world ruled by numbers, Control F reads between the (spreadsheet) lines to find the bigger story.

Control F is a podcast about data — hard, fuzzy, surprising, and sometimes unreliable data — and all the ways it influences our daily lives. 

Control F

A deep dive into the research and data examining whether surveillance cameras, such as CCTV and Flock, keep you safer