Mexico City is in the race to become the most surveilled city in the Americas

Mexico City is about to launch the "Eyes That Look After You" plan – a government’s attempt to decrease crime rates by expanding the city's surveillance camera network.

According to Mayor Clara Brugada, the city is set to spend $19 million on over 30,000 new cameras that will surveil the streets. The city plans to build 15,200 additional surveillance poles, where each would hold two cameras: one will be fixed and the other one will be able to zoom and tilt.

Most importantly, the cameras will be able to connect to Mexico City's Command, Control, Computation, Communication, and Citizen Contact Centers.

The camera poles will also include panic buttons that send location-based alerts for a rapid response.

By the end of this year, the city is set to have 113,814 cameras in total, which, according to Brugada, should double the number in New York and triple what Chicago and Rio de Janeiro have in place. As reported by the Court House News Service, this move should transform Mexico City into the surveillance capital of the Americas.

Brugada’s security plan includes expanding surveillance across Mexico City’s metro system this week and inviting residents to connect their private cameras to the massive C5 network. She aims to add 50,000 cameras, surpassing London and Seoul.

The initiative comes after two of Brugada’s aides were murdered in May, underscoring the urgency of tighter security despite surveillance cameras capturing the attacker in detail.

Top 10 most surveilled cities in the world

While the math behind the City of Mexico called “the surveillance capital of the Americas” is unclear, it seems that the competition might be hard to beat.

Cybernews has previously reported on the top-most surveilled cities in the world per capita and per square metre. Based on the NeoMam Studios, when measured per capita, Washington D.C. leads the world with 44 cameras per 1,000 residents, far surpassing the next city, Almaty, Kazakhstan, with 22.8. European cities such as Stockholm and Basel also appear in the top 10, alongside big cities in Asia such as Daegu, Seoul, and Hyderabad.

In terms of surveillance per square kilometer, Dubai is at the top of the list with an astonishing number of 800 cameras. That is more than double the second-place city, Seoul, at 281. All other cities in the top ten are in Asia with Chennai, Kabul, Hyderabad, Baghdad, Delhi, and Singapore coming in third, fourth, fifth, sixth, eighth, and nint, respectively.

The only European city that made it to the list is Stockholm, landing in tenth place. The only city from the US, Washington D.C, came seventh.