“What’s really helpful is that when one thing occurs, they go to open the folder and the subsequent day request the video proof, as a result of [without an investigation file] they won’t be able to entry this info,” says Salvador Guerrero Chiprés, common coordinator of C5 CDMX.
In actual fact, he shared that they obtain round 160 requests per day from folks asking for the C5 recordings to current as proof in court docket.
In different phrases, if a mean of 640 investigation information are opened day by day in Mexico Metropolis (232,476 per yr, in line with knowledge from the 2024 Nationwide Census of State and Federal Prosecution of Justice), 25 p.c of those have a recording from authorities cameras as proof.
Though Mexico Metropolis’s video surveillance system is a device to forestall and punish crimes, the town nonetheless registers the best crime price within the nation, with 54,473 crimes per 100,000 inhabitants. In a survey carried out in 2025 by the Nationwide Institute of Statistics and Geography, 75.6 p.c of residents mentioned they didn’t really feel safe.
“The inhibition and prosecution of crime are complementary … All of the world literature signifies it, all the information from all the general public safety secretariats world wide point out it, and within the case of Mexico Metropolis, additionally it is apparent that there’s extra citizen confidence when there are extra cameras, whether or not public or personal,” Guerrero Chiprés says.
Even if the nation’s capital is the most heavily monitored metropolis in the continent, there may be nonetheless a variety of territory to cowl. Information shared by the pinnacle of C5 reveals that solely a 3rd of the town is roofed by these cameras.
“Nowhere on this planet does it occur [that there is surveillance in 100 percent of public spaces],” Guerrero Chiprés says. “That’s the reason there have to be contribution from the entire group. If the group doesn’t take part with its personal cameras and likewise with its civic view, [security] is unattainable, as a result of there are greater than 63,000 blocks within the metropolis, and now we have a presence in 20,000.”
Enter the Spy Bunker
Strategically situated within the busiest areas with the best crime charges, the video surveillance cameras function from Mexico Metropolis’s Command, Management, Computing, Communications, and Citizen Contact Heart (C5 CDMX), a bunker that works 24/7, and the place there’s a everlasting presence of representatives from 29 federal and native companies, reminiscent of Mexico’s Nationwide Guard, the Navy, the Protection, and the Secretariats of Citizen Safety.
Though C5 is primarily identified for video surveillance, this house brings collectively alternative ways to comply with up on complaints from residents.
