Camera Surveillance as a Measure of Counterterrorism?

Camera surveillance has recently gained prominence in policy proposals on combatingterrorism. We evaluate this instrument of counterterrorism as resting on the premise of adeterrence effect. Based on comparative arguments and previous evidence on crime, weexpect camera surveillance to have a relatively smaller deterrent effect on terrorism than onother forms of crime. In particular, we emphasize opportunities for substitution (i.e.,displacement effects), the interaction with media attention aspired to by terrorists, the limitsof real-time interventions, the crowding-out of social surveillance, the risk of misguidedprofiling, and politico-economic concerns regarding the misuse of the technology.