Cost To City For Security Camera Project Grows To $700,000
The city of Greenville, S.C., is using parking fees and taxes on local businesses to help fund an anti-crime initiative that will result in the installation of 101 security cameras throughout the city’s downtown business district.
Authorities say that the cameras should help cut down on automobile break-ins, purse snatching, and graffiti.
The cameras will record continuously so that police can view the videotape when they believe a crime has been committed.
Some of the cameras have already been installed in the city’s parking garages and have helped catch people who purposely broke the arms of parking toll booths so that they would not have to pay a parking fee.
The camera initiative will cost the city $700,000, officials say. Privacy advocates have criticized the camera project, but some city residents appreciate the feeling of security that the cameras provide.
Resident Katherine Muller, who lived in England for a year, says that security cameras are common in Europe and help authorities there solve abductions, murders, and other crimes.
Abstracted by the National Law Enforcement and Corrections Technology Center(NLECTC) from the Greenville News (SC) (09/29/03); Walton, E. Richard.
