Right now it can't be done cheaply but this is likely to change. tom5 asks: Two words: implied use of force, and GNW!

Neither I nor anyone in my 'hood is interested in use of force. The people who cause us problems are not hardened violent criminals. They are mostly opportunists who go away as soon as they know that their activities have been observed. If it gets to the point where force is necessary, then it's time to call the cops. valis asks: Will this project work in all neighborhoods? How about the projects?

I would hope that it would work in projects. As always, there are economic barriers. Middle class people will get over those barriers before project dwellers. But certainly crime is more of an issue in projects than in middle-class 'hoods and so they would have more to gain by reducing it. rossum asks: This is a very high-resouce plan- What about those who can't afford a half-dozen cameras on their house?

I'm really concerned about the cost issue, and so I'm trying to do it with a minimum of expense. A QuickCam costs US$100. You can get a used computer for a few hundred and set it up to run a free OS like Linux. Bandwidth is still expensive but ought to start getting cheaper soon. Basically, this is not a very interesting project if it costs a hundred thousand bucks to set it up. If it can be done for a few thousand (or for a figure that is comparable to the cost of crime in the 'hood) then it becomes economically feasible. scrow asks: I've got 2 HUGE problems with things you (Neal) just said- #1. You assume that criminals are identified from the get go and that #2 Not near answering these questions?!?!?! Why not? They're integral concerns!

#1: The purpose of having the thing neighborhood-based is to prevent misidentification. There is a black family next door to us that includes a teenaged kid who likes to work on cars. The cops are always hassling him because when they see a teenage black kid with his head under a dashboard, they assume he's stealing the car. They don't know the neighborhood. But we who live here do know it and so we recognize this kid and we don't react in an inappropriate way.