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Bellows Falls, Vt., Set to Install Security Cameras

Posted on: Thursday, 29 December 2005, 18:00 CST

By Chris Fleisher, Eagle Times, Claremont, N.H.

Dec. 28--BELLOWS FALLS -- The locations for 16 security cameras throughout the village have been identified and the system could be in place by next summer, Bellows Falls Police Chief Keith Clark told the village trustees on Tuesday.

Pending the property owners' consent, the trustees agreed to mount cameras around the downtown square, recreation center, "Red Light Hill," wastewater treatment plant, Hetty Green parking area, Waypoint Center and hospital.

Clark said he will immediately begin collecting permission from various property owners to mount the remote digital cameras.

Recording criminal activity around Bellows Falls would cut back on the time spent on police investigations and in court, Clark said.

"This is evidentiary rated video. These are clear images you could identify people on," Clark said. "It's pretty hard to form a defense saying Œthat's not me' when you have a video showing you doing it." Paid for with a $98,000 grant, the system will use motion sensitive color cameras to transmit images on a closed circuit television system back to dispatchers at the Bellows Falls Police Station. Cameras will not record audio and will not be placed where they can monitor residences, Clark said.

"I'm looking at this as where should people have an expectation of privacy," Clark said.

Installation of the cameras will soon go out to bid and the entire project could complete by June or July, Clark said.

A study prepared for the police department in October recommended the locations and type of equipment, though many of those suggestions are changing as technological advances are made.

Eventually, live footage taken from police cruiser cameras could be linked into the system, so dispatchers could monitor activity during traffic stops and put out calls for backup as a situation develops, Clark said.

Recurring costs will only include replacing equipment, like broken cameras, which have a one- to five-year warranty.

Trustees had little to say on the proposal and quickly consented to send the project installation out to bid.

Bellows Falls would be the first municipality in Vermont with a townwide security camera system.

Los Angeles, Chicago and New Orleans have similar camera systems to help police monitor high crime areas.

Village trustees unanimously approved the idea in February.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Eagle Times, Claremont, N.H.

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Source: Eagle Times, Claremont, New Hampshire

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