Columbus Mayor Michael B. Coleman approved a pilot project last week to install 114 security cameras in five neighborhoods, including the University District.
Project consultants have estimated the project will cost between $2 million and $2.5 million, which will come from the Department of Public Safety’s Capital Improvement Budget, said Amanda Ford, assistant director of public safety for the city of Columbus.
As early as next summer, cameras will begin recording 24 hours a day in the Hilltop, Weinland Park and South Linden areas, as well as along Mount Vernon and Livingston avenues, Ford said.
Cameras closest to campus will be near the intersection of Ninth Avenue and High Street. The areas were chosen based on requests from neighborhood residents and leaders, as well as input from crime analysts and patrol officers.
“Our goal is to put the cameras up to deter crime in those areas,” Ford said.
Despite some cameras’ proximity to campus, Ohio State Police will not have access to the video feeds. The cameras will feed into City Hall, where trained civilian security staff will monitor the cameras during hours of high criminal activity.
If a crime is committed while the cameras are being monitored, staff members will alert police. Police will also be able to use the video as evidence.
Although the project might provide more security in Columbus, some are concerned about the cameras.
“It all seems a little Big Brother-esque,” said Lori Stewart, 28, who graduated with a degree in communication from OSU in 2004. “It’s just more government watching our actions, where they should be able to police us in other ways. It seems a little drastic.”
Software will blur out residents’ windows and doorways, but that could be overridden.
“Obviously, privacy is a big concern,” Ford said, “and we owe that to our citizens to make sure that their privacy is kept.”
There is also concern about how effective cameras will be at preventing crime.
“There’s no real evidence that these things cut down on crime,” said Gary Daniels, 40, the associate director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio. “If you have them in a limited number of places, what they will tend to do is push crime away to other places.”
Daniels suggested money would be better spent on increasing police patrols and “forming partnerships with residents, who are there 24 hours a day.”
“We realize that (the cameras) could move crime to other areas,” Ford said. “But this is just one part of a practical policing strategy.”
Ford said police might increase patrols in areas not covered by cameras.
Although the project will likely be a useful tool for Columbus Police, citizens should not expect crime to disappear.
“These cameras are not a silver bullet to end crime in the City of Columbus,” Coleman said in the press release. “They will be another tool officers can use to potentially prevent crimes before they happen and solve crimes after they happen.”
