Which U.S. Cities Have the Most Surveillance?

Atlanta has more surveillance residents per resident than any other U.S. city.

1 minute read

September 23, 2019, 6:00 AM PDT

By James Brasuell @CasualBrasuell


new report from technology research firm Comparitech "counts the number of closed-circuit television cameras owned by both government and private sources in cities around the world and compares that with the city’s population to find the density of cameras," according to an article by Emma Coleman.

Among global peers, Atlanta is the only city to crack the top ten most surveilled cities, with 15.56 cameras per thousand residents. That may seem low compared to cities higher on the list, most of which are in China and have 39 to 168 cameras per thousand residents, but Atlanta’s rate is high by U.S. standards. The five other municipalities that made the list of the top 50 most surveilled cities in the world included Chicago, Washington D.C., San Francisco, San Diego, and Boston," writes Coleman.

The article includes information from sources in police departments about the presence of surveillance cameras in U.S. cities.

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