43
Warren to install cameras to nab trash dumpers
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
The city is purchasing four video-surveillance cameras that soon will go into use to catch people making a mess by dumping trash in areas such as the bike trail.
At a Wednesday meeting of the Community Development Committee of Warren City Council, Enzo Cantalamessa, safety service director, explained that the cameras being provided by VEC of Girard will have license-plate and facial-recognition technology that will make it possible to track down the vehicles and people responsible for such crimes.
“The hope is some of the dumpers will be captured on video and prosecuted, so an example can be made to discourage others from doing it,” Cantalamessa said.
They will be placed in the most-problematic areas to start, “and they can be moved,” he said.
A decision was made in November to set aside $35,000 in Community Development Block Grant money for the cameras. The money pays for the cameras, maintenance and set-up.
“These cameras are very effective when used correctly,” Cantalamessa said, adding that they can be fairly easy to use. The video can be accessed remotely on a computer, or an officer can drive his car to the location and download the video to his mobile display terminal in his cruiser, he said.
Jim Bluedorn, a VEC representative, said the cameras can capture usable images in low light or bright light, and the camera can follow the movement of a car or person. They use batteries and solar power.
“I’m really excited to see them in action,” said Councilman Greg Bartholomew. “Hopefullly we won’t have to prosecute anyone, but I’m sure we will.”
Sixth Ward Councilwoman Cheryl Saffold tried to raise awareness regarding the need for video-surveillance cameras in the city more than a year ago in response to several unsolved homicides in her ward and throughout the southwest part of the city. Saffold said by her estimation, there have been 13 unsolved murders in the past nine years in her ward and just south of the city in Warren Township.
“I feel if cameras had been strategically placed, their murderers would have been caught by now,” Saffold said.
She noted that the quality of the cameras is important because a homicide in the Hampshire House apartments captured an image, but its quality was not high enough to help police, she said.
Saffold said one of the worst examples of illegal dumping occurred on Risher Road Southwest, which is in her ward. There were tires, furniture and many other items dumped there, she said.