New York City’s COVID-19 lockdown, fears of crime, and civil unrest drive up demand for video security systems among residents

A set of security cameras attached to an apartment building in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. According to Jones Security, a security company in Brooklyn, Crown Heights is one neighborhood where the company has seen an increased demand for video system installations. (Picture: Michal Kranz)

When Tatiana Davidoff moved into a new apartment on Coney Island, Brooklyn with her husband at the start of September, they decided to install a $200 video security doorbell.

“You never know what’s going to happen,” Davidoff said, referring to the civil rights protests that were held throughout the city during the summer.

Davidoff is part of a growing number of city residents installing home security systems this year. While no official city-wide numbers are available, 80 percent of retail surveillance security businesses in our survey reported an increase in demand for home camera installations. Twelve out of the fifteen companies we polled reported increases in sales ranging from 20 percent to 70 percent for residential camera installations this year over last year. Company owners and employees from these firms cited a variety of factors that were driving people to secure their homes, including the city’s COVID-19 lockdown, fears about rising crime in the city, and violence associated with the summer’s racial justice protests.

Companies with increased sales of residential video surveillance installations said that these spikes had started either around the beginning of the…