Police
Camera Continues To Keep
Watchful Eye on Main
Street
Installed in February on a light pole next to
the Farmer's Market on the Town Square, a Stevens
Point police camera has kept a watchful eye over
downtown.
In the early hours of March 12, the dispatch
officer inside police headquarters was able
to take the camera off its preset sweep of the
area
and zoom in on a crowd that gathered on the
900 block of Main Street in front of Bruiser's
bar.
In stark black and white, the camera filmed
as the after-bar excitement quickly turned into
a brawl.
“One of the guys involved was saying he was hit
from behind,” said Det. Robert Kussow of
the Stevens Point Police Department Tuesday afternoon,
as scenes from the fight were displayed on his
computer screen. “But he was actually the
aggressor. If you've got the video, all you've
got to do is watch it to see what happened.”
Before the fight broke out or before anyone
on the scene could call to report the incident,
the dispatch officer called in officers,
who arrived very shortly after the fight
actually
broke out.
“For those people who don't go out after dark
downtown, it's a different side of Stevens Point
after dark,” said
Lt. Ron Carlson, who described the footage
of the March incident as a scene
from the TV series COPS.“I
see it as a crime prevention tool, and a law
enforcement tool for prosecution.”
The camera was proposed by the Association
of Downtown Businesses about two years ago
before
its installation earlier this year by Horgan
Sales and Services.
|
Lt. Ron Carlson
of the Stevens Point Police Department gets
familiar with how to access the surveillance
camera located on the square in downtown Stevens
Point. Computers in the department and squad
cars will be able to access the camera. (Photo
courtesy of Stevens Point Journal)
A
camera has been mounted on the pole (right)
so the
Stevens Point Police Department can monitor
actions in the downtown area from the dispatch
center. (Photo courtesy of Stevens Point
Journal) |
The wireless camera sends
a signal to Specialized Computer Systems,
Inc. at the northwest corner of the square
where
the moving images are kept on a hard drive.
Up to
six users, including police shift supervisors
and 911 dispatchers, can monitor the camera
at any time.
“We
do want to add one around the Strongs and Main Street
corner just for some added surveillance of this end
of downtown and the ShopKo parking lot,” said
Main Street Manager Jami Gebert. “I
think it's a lot to be said about feeling safe and
we want to make sure that people continue to feel
safe through the future.”
Doug Curwen, owner of Hometown Grocery & Bakery,
located at the corner of Strongs Avenue and Main Street,
said he is waiting for a camera to be installed on
his neck of Main Street.
“I
know there are problems down here,” he
said. "I still think there should be a beat cop
down here, now that school is back in session.”
But has the camera deterred crime downtown?
Gebert said that all 31 of the hanging baskets lining
downtown storefronts are still intact, compared with
the six that were taken last year.
Debbie Kreb, owner of Heaven in a Handbasket, 1108
Main St., however, recently had chimes and a hanging
basket taken from in front of the store.
“I
don't think people know about it,” she
said of the camera. “Just
like cameras in a store, I think it will make a difference.”
The police department and the ADB are working on
signage for downtown that would combine the existing
messages against loitering and open intoxicants with
the notice that a camera is watching would-be vandals
or brawlers. Gebert said they had originally hoped
to have the signs ready before the beginning of the
new semester at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens
Point, but they will now probably be done before the
start of winter.
(By
Carlos
Gieseken, Stevens Point Journal -- Sept. 6, 2006)
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