New developments in Aberdeen could soon fall under the watchful electronic eye of city police, if an amendment to the development code is passed requiring new projects to pay for security cameras hooked into the city?s new surveillance system.
The City Council held a public hearing Monday for the proposed changes, which would require the builders of all new commercial, residential and industrial developments to install security cameras at strategic locations.
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The new systems ? installed at the developers? expense and turned over to managers and homeowners? associations for maintenance ? would be monitored through the new system currently watching some of the city?s trouble spots, like the corner of Washington and Edmund streets.
“The cameras work 24/7 and are archived for 28 days,” said Councilman Ron Kupferman. “If there?s a problem in a given neighborhood, then [police] can go back to the minute and zoom in hundreds of feet. It’s amazing.”
City Manager Doug Miller said it cost the city about $112,000 to install its first three cameras and set up a monitoring room in the police station, which came online about two months ago. There is not yet a police officer assigned to watch the cameras, but footage can be pulled to review later.
Mayor S. Fred Simmons said the city would hope to recoup the cost of the system by having banks and businesses pay to have their own cameras connected to the network ?not to mention saving police time and manpower if cameras can spot a witness or make out a suspicious vehicle?s license plate.
“We hope this is a cost-saving measure, and not a cost-accruing measure,” he said.
No developers came to the hearing to address the proposal.
Simmons said the city would study the new requirements further before they are discussed and voted on at a future meeting.
