EFFECTIVENESS OF CCTV SYSTEMS IN REDUCING RETAIL ROBBERY RATES AND EMPLOYEE INJUR

PROJECT SUMMARYState legislation and local ordinances are increasingly requiring retail establishments to install closed-circuittelevision (CCTV) systems to reduce the risk of robbery and robbery-related employee injury. However, little isknown about the effectiveness of CCTV systems in reducing retail robbery, and even less is known about theadded benefit of these systems over less expensive evidence-based prevention approaches.The long-term goal of the proposed project is to inform the development of policies for CCTV systemimplementation in retail environments for the reduction of robbery and robbery-related violence. The overallobjective is to understand the role of CCTV systems in the prevention of retail robbery and robbery-relatedemployee injury. The proposed project builds on an existing NIOSH-funded study, where police departmentcrime prevention specialists are disseminating an evidence-based robbery and violence prevention program intheir business communities (Grant #: R01 OH009527). The specific aims of the proposed project are to: 1. Describe how the presence of an overt CCTV system in the retail environment affects the decision- making process of individuals considering a robbery, 2. Describe how CCTV systems installed in retail businesses compare with security industry standards developed by the International Association for Identification's Scientific Working Group on Imaging Technology, and 3. Examine the effectiveness of CCTV systems in reducing robbery and robbery-related violence in retail businesses above what evidence-based programs already provide.Aim 1 will use a self-administered survey of 300 individuals recently paroled from the California Department ofCorrections and Rehabilitation and released into the city of Oxnard (California). Aim 2 will use a data collectioninstrument developed by private security consultants and completed by the crime prevention specialistscurrently disseminating evidence-based recommendations to businesses. Aim 3 will use a prospective cohortdesign to examine the association between CCTV systems and robbery and robbery-related employee injuryrates over a one-year period, controlling for business implementation of existing evidence-based strategies.Accomplishing these aims will result in recommendations for the installation and operation of CCTV systemswithin the context of a comprehensive robbery and violence prevention program and will result inrecommendations for how business operators can improve CCTV systems to meet security industry guidelines.The contribution of the proposed project is significant because policymakers are developing legislation that isnot backed by adequate evaluation of the effectiveness of CCTV systems and the types of retail settings thatmay gain the most from them.