stargazette
February 6, 2010

Elmira street cameras near start-up – Surveillance system to bolster crime fight

By Ray Finger
rafinger@gannett.com

Elmira officials hope that a network of wireless surveillance cameras to help fight crime will begin operating in targeted areas of the city by next month.

“We were hoping that some time in March, we will be seeing cameras up,” said Kelli Ramsdell, director of community development for the city.

Elmira City Council approved a contract in September with Integrated Systems of Victor, N.Y., for the six-camera system. The $120,000 project is funded with federal stimulus money.

“It is our hope that at some point in time we’ll be able to add to those cameras every year,” Ramsdell said.

Last week, City Council authorized an agreement with Mark Twain Properties so a transmitting device can be installed at the top of the Mark Twain Building at West Gray and North Main streets, one of the tallest buildings downtown.

That device will collect encrypted information from the cameras and transmit it to another device atop the Hazlett Building at 203 Lake St., County Executive Tom Santulli said. From there, the information is transmitted over fiber-optic cable to police at Elmira City Hall.

City resident Christine Johanneman believes the cameras could help people feel safer.

“It depends on where they’re put. If they’re put in the problem areas, I could see where that would be helpful — the drug areas where there’s a lot of crime,” she said.

The cameras are not intended to replace police officers but to help monitor problem spots, according to Elmira Police Chief Scott Drake. Cameras will be placed in a target area in the Near Westside as well as some city parks, he said.

Another piece of equipment will soon be installed on top of the Hazlett Building that will provide backup for the 911 communications center at City Hall, Santulli said. That will beam a signal to a tower on Crane Road and from there to a secondary Public Safety Answering Point at the Elmira Heights Police Department.