City to remove `blue light' crime cameras

Positive results

But the effectiveness of the "podds" cameras seems to be more limited than the CCTV cameras. Clifford said outdoor crime in a 28-day period after a portable camera is installed falls on average by about 7 percent when compared with the 28-day period before the camera goes up.

"It has made a difference in my neighborhood," said Viola Bell, president of the United Hope Community Development Corp., who has lived on the 3500 block of Virginia Avenue -- near one of the portable cameras -- for 18 years. "I know for a fact that the activity that used to be on that corner doesn't exist any more." But Paul Quinn, a past president and current board member of the Federal Hill Neighborhood Association, is less sure. There was an uproar in the community in 2006 when a camera was installed at Montgomery and William streets.

In the subsequent months, two crimes -- including a mugging -- took place near the camera. Quinn said the video from the cameras provided no help in solving the crimes.

"The camera really didn't prevent it, nor did it help identify any suspect," Quinn said. "We did come to the conclusion after that camera had been put up that they were not the answer for crime deterrence."

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Sun reporter Annie Linskey contributed to this article.