Crime control in the smart city: the nexus between big data, predictive policing, surveillance, and smart nudges
Lieke Bisschops, M.B. Schuilenburg · Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks · 2025
There is a growing consensus that when it comes to public safety, introducing smart technology to city surveillance helps reduce criminality and disorder. This chapter explores how smart technologies are used in the field of crime control in smart cities worldwide. Based on an extensive literature review, three types of smart crime control are discerned: smart policing (i.e. predictive policing), smart surveillance, and smart nudging. The results show a discrepancy between the considerable attention given to the potential benefits of smart crime control and the little support of empirical evidence for the claimed benefits of the technologies used. In addition to the need for more empirical research into the effects of smart technologies in the field of crime control, various legal and ethical concerns are discussed regarding the use of big data and algorithms to enhance public safety in smart cities.