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W-B Sees Cameras Enhancing Security: Also, Scranton Among Cities Wanting Such Surveillance. Baltimore Considered Model.

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 March 2006, 06:00 CST

By Jon Fox, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader

Mar. 1--WILKES-BARRE -- London did it. Chicago did it. Jersey City did it. Baltimore did it. Even Scranton's looking at doing it.

Surveillance cameras have become more common as urban areas across the country look to them as a way to boost security on the streets.

Wilkes-Barre announced its own plan to unveil security cameras late last year when it called for proposals to turn the 7-square-mile city into one big wireless Internet hotspot.

The goal was to have citywide wireless Internet access by the end of 2005. But that deadline's been pushed back, along with its plans for the cameras.

City Administrator J.J. Murphy said the Wi-Fi plan and the cameras go hand in hand.

It's his hope that the city can install a surveillance system that employs both hard-wired and wireless cameras, said Murphy who is leading the project.

He avoided specific dates, saying only "We're hoping the timeline is 2006."

Wilkes-Barre's camera network remains in the planning phase, but Baltimore installed its system of 270 cameras in May of 2005. Baltimore's surveillance system has become a model for many American cities, including Philadelphia and Scranton.

Members of Philadelphia city council recently visited Baltimore to check out its system, and Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty said members of his administration are planning a similar field trip.

Baltimore residents have widely embraced the cameras, which are credited by police with curbing crime in three historically violent neighborhoods.

"The residents now expect us to have a camera on every corner, and the police officers do too," said Kirsten Mahoney, who oversees the camera program for the Baltimore Police Department. "I can't keep up with the number of requests for cameras that we've had."

The city deployed the cameras downtown and in three of the city's roughest neighborhoods, and they've had a tremendous effect, Mahoney said.

In one of the three neighborhoods, police statistics show violent crime fell off nearly 50 percent since the cameras were installed. Overall, violent crime in areas with the cameras has dropped 18 percent.

Some of Baltimore's cameras were funded by federal homeland security grants and monitor much of the city's critical infrastructure. In the neighborhoods, officials paid for cameras from proceeds from asset forfeitures.

Downtown cameras are monitored by a security company. Elsewhere, the city has hired retired police officers, Mahoney said.

The former cops watch live video feeds at the precinct house and dispatch police officers immediately to trouble spots.

She calls the cameras a "force multiplier."

"They don't replace police officers; they just enhance what they're able to do," she said.

Earlier this month, Philadelphia Councilman Darrell L. Clarke introduced a measure that would put a surveillance system in that city to a voter referendum.

In Scranton, Mayor Doherty said a speech by Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley at the Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., sold him on the camera concept.

"This is something we hope to do this year," he said.

For Mahoney, the Baltimore cameras have meant a lot of interest from other cities looking to replicate its experience.

Denver, Milwaukee, Cleveland, Philadelphia and Scranton … the calls keep coming in. "It's like every day," she said.

But give credit where credit is due: Baltimore modeled its system after London, Chicago and Jersey City, Mahoney said.

"We stole all the best stuff from those three cities, and put our program in place."

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Do you think urban security cameras are a good move or a little too Big Brotherish for your taste? Go to www.timesleader.com [http://www.timesleader.com] and let us know.

Jon Fox, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7219.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Times Leader

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Source: The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)

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