10 years. $10M. 2,100 SkyCop cameras. And a crime increase of 57%
A SkyCop unit sits on Mud Island in front of the Hernando DeSoto Bridge Sept. 15, 2021. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
SkyCop cameras have cost Memphis more than $10 million since 2010, but a Daily Memphian analysis shows the city experienced more crime with a vast camera system than without it, and cameras rarely help criminal investigations.
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SkyCop Memphis Police Department crimeMatt Stroud
Matt Stroud, a former correspondent for Bloomberg News and The Associated Press, is an investigative reporter with The Daily Memphian. He is the author of “Thin Blue Lie: The Failure of High-Tech Policing,” and the creator of the six-part podcast, “Guru: The Dark Side of Enlightenment.”
Aidian Holder
Aidian Holder is on The Daily Memphian investigative team as a data journalist. A graduate from University of Missouri, Holder spent a decade in television news as a news producer before joining the Yakima Herald-Republic in 2015. At Yakima, he was a digital producer and then the digital media manager, where he helped lead the digital transition of the newsroom.
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