June 30, 2015
Surveillance cameras added on Main St.
The Cortland Police Department is hopeful that parts needed to completely install surveillance cameras at the intersection of Main, Tompkins and Port Watson streets will arrive by the end of the week, Police Chief F. Michael Catalano said Monday morning.
The cameras, being installed by Syracuse-based Tyco Integrated Security, will be located at the intersection with one facing north and the other south, Catalano said.
“They have them installed,” Catalano said. “But there’s a couple more parts they’re waiting for to finish it up, but I don’t know how long that will take. I’m hoping it will be this week.”
Deputy Police Chief Paul Sandy said Monday the new cameras cost $26,000 to install and the department chose the intersection because of its high volume of pedestrian traffic.
The intended use of the cameras is to have something to refer back to when a crime is reported and the cameras will not be monitored 24-7 or be used for traffic violations, he said.
Catalano noted the police department already budgeted for the cost of cameras downtown during the year. In January the council approved the allocation for cameras to be installed at the Main Street and Tompkins/Port Watson streets intersection.
“It was budgeted and it was approved earlier in the year but we had to wait for the weather to warm up and be nice enough to actually do the installation,” he said.
The move to install cameras downtown was prompted by a vicious assault at the intersection of Main and West Court streets in July 2012. InJune 2013, police cited the crime as a reason to install cameras there.
Back then, Catalano said the police department needed the cameras to better identify suspects and to increase surveillance in an area south of Clinton Avenue and north of William Street in the city.
During that time, the city Common Council approved those cameras, but said the police department must get the council’s approval each time it wants to install additional cameras.
On Monday, Catalano said increasing surveillance continues to be the police department’s main intention with the additional cameras.
“It’s more to go back and look when something is reported or something has happened,” Catalano said. “We’ll go back and look at some of the footage we have and see if we can help identify suspects or anything like that.”
Sandy said the current cameras have been doing what they are intended for. He gave the example of how they were recently used to settle a dispute caused by a motor vehicle accident.
“With a motor vehicle accident there’s usually two sides to the story,” Sandy said. “When we pulled it up on the cameras, it was pretty black and white who did what.”
Catalano said he wants to continue to explore options for other intersections that could use cameras. He thinks that benefits would outweigh the potential costs associated with the expansion.
“They could only be valuable one time, but that one time could mean a lot,” Catalano said.
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