“What’s really useful is that when one thing occurs, they go to open the folder and the following day request the video proof, as a result of [without an investigation file] they will be unable to entry this info,” says Salvador Guerrero Chiprés, normal 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 keeping 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 instrument to forestall and punish crimes, town nonetheless registers the best crime fee 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 stated they didn’t really feel safe.
“The inhibition and prosecution of crime are complementary … All of the world literature signifies it, all the info from all the general public safety secretariats around the globe point out it, and within the case of Mexico Metropolis, it’s also apparent that there’s extra citizen confidence when there are extra cameras, whether or not public or non-public,” Guerrero Chiprés says.
Even if the nation’s capital is the most closely monitored metropolis within the continent, there’s nonetheless numerous territory to cowl. Information shared by the top of C5 reveals that solely a 3rd of 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 should be contribution from the entire neighborhood. If the neighborhood doesn’t take part with its personal cameras and likewise with its civic view, [security] is not possible, 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 positioned 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, akin to Mexico’s Nationwide Guard, the Navy, the Protection, and the Secretariats of Citizen Safety.
Though C5 is primarily recognized for video surveillance, this area brings collectively other ways to observe up on complaints from residents.
