The underlying problem is, and has been, police manpower. Police presence downtown is often a shell game at best. Too much crime, not nearly enough cops. Not enough, I’m told, for even a low-crime environment.
I had a conversation Friday night with an officer, and at one point while we were discussing coverage and hitting “soft” crime to reduce crime overall, he said to me very quietly “Look, if you knew how many cops are actually on the streets right now your head would explode. We hardly have time to go after big crime at this point”.
Kinda makes the cameras a moot point, if you think about it.
