'Camera on Every Corner': Protection or Invasion?

Fourteen-year-old Roberto Duran loved computers and soccer, but his dreams ended in a roar of gunfire on a quiet Chicago block earlier this summer.

(ABC News)

"A lot of people loved my son," said Roberto's father, Salvador Duran. "My life is torn up."

Roberto's alleged killers, who had mistaken him for a rival gang member, were eventually arrested thanks to police surveillance cameras that captured the getaway. They are among 2,000 law enforcement cameras, mounted on poles and buildings across the city, that offer authorities a bird's-eye view of drug deals, violent and property crime and potential terrorism.

"We see a reduction in crime in the areas around the cameras," said Chicago Police Commander Jonathan Lewin. "The last three years are the first three-year period in over 40 years that we've had less than 500 homicides a year, and we think the cameras played a role in that."

Watch Eric Horng's story on the debate over surveillance cameras tonight on "World News." Check local listings for air time.

The roving electronic eyes, which Chicago began installing four years ago and are now going up at the rate of 15 per week, are powerful enough to read vehicle license plates and even the ticket prices listed on a sign outside the Chicago Cubs' Wrigley Field box office.

And they listen as well as look. Some of the cameras, which cost up to $30,000 apiece, are equipped with gunshot detectors that can alert police when bullets start flying. Eventually, they may even be able to sniff out biological or chemical agents in the event of a terrorist attack.

"I think it contributes to people's sense of well-being," said Lewin of the highly-visible cameras, many of which have blue flashing lights. "We can record video from the cameras and if something happens, we can go back and use the video as evidence in court."

While Chicago's network of cameras has received accolades from law enforcement agencies coast-to-coast, the gold standard in surveillance systems belongs to London.

Originally devised three decades ago to guard against attacks by the Irish Republican Army, London's four-million cameras and sensors helped detectives quickly identify suspects in last June's failed car bombings as well as the July 2005 train and bus attacks that killed more than 50 people.