Mexico City is the most video-surveilled metropolis in America

“It is recommended that if something happens, they open the folder and request the video evidence the next day, since they cannot access this information (without an investigative file),” says Salvador Guerrero Chiprés, general coordinator of C5 CDMX.

In fact, he shared that they receive about 160 requests a day from people asking to present the C5 recordings as evidence in court.

In other words, if an average of 640 investigative files are opened every day in Mexico City (232,476 per year, according to data from the 2024 national census from the state and federal Department of Justice), 25 percent of them have a recording from government cameras as evidence.

Although Mexico City’s video surveillance system is a tool to prevent and punish crimes, the city still records the highest crime rate in the country, with 54,473 crimes per 100,000 residents. In a 2025 survey conducted by the National Institute of Statistics and Geography, 75.6 percent of residents said they did not feel safe.

“The inhibition and prosecution of crimes are complementary… All the world literature points to this, all the data from all the public security secretariats around the world points to this, and in the case of Mexico City it is also obvious that when there are more public or private cameras, the trust of citizens is greater,” says Guerrero Chiprés.

Despite the fact that the capital of the country is the most closely monitored City on the continentThere is still a lot to do. Data shared by the head of C5 shows that only a third of the city is covered by these cameras.

“Nowhere in the world does it happen (that 100 percent of public spaces are monitored),” says Guerrero Chiprés. “That’s why the entire community has to contribute. If the community doesn’t participate with their own cameras and also with their civic perspective, (security) is impossible because there are more than 63,000 blocks in the city and we are present in 20,000.”

Enter the spy bunker

The video surveillance cameras are strategically placed in the busiest areas with the highest crime rates and are operated from Mexico City’s Command, Control, Computing, Communications, and Citizen Contact Center (C5 CDMX), a 24-hour bunker with a permanent presence of representatives from 29 federal and local agencies, including the Mexican National Guard, Navy, Defense and Citizen Security Secretariats.

Although C5 is best known for video surveillance, this room combines various options for investigating complaints from residents.