Quick takes: Using technology to combat violence

Two news stories, both from the United States, point to the use of citizen generated content as well as new surveillance technologies that are being leveraged to bring down violent crime.

Reuters reports on the New York Police Department’s decision to allow citizens to upload mobile video and photos directly to them to help in combatting crime as well as Police brutality and corruption.

TechCrunch reports on the efforts of Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, who is using extremely sophisticated cameras to police violent neighborhoods. The capabilities of the cameras employed in Newark are astounding, though I’m not entirely convinced that a purely technocratic approach to combatting violent gun and drug crime actually resolved the root causes of the issue.