Arvada, Colorado uses Safe Streets grant to build city surveillance system
Olde Town Arvada is under surveillance, with six new cameras up in the area set to go live in early January. The Arvada Police Department says it's the first step to creating a real-time crime center.
"I think, as long as it's not abused in a way of say a person's privacy but in a public setting ... I think its fine," said Mike Arrieta-Walden when asked about the idea.
With the help of the Colorado Safe Streets program, Arvada PD was able to put nearly $60,000 in grant money toward new surveillance cameras.
"We have six cameras in place, and those cameras hopefully are going to be just the start of a footprint of a larger system throughout the city that will allow us to build toward a real-time crime center and observe activity as its going on," said Dave Snelling, public information officer.
Snelling explained how the system will work once it goes live.
"If you want to see the description of somebody that maybe committed a crime down here or is fleeing the area eventually, we will be able to zoom in, better record that, pull that image, and then, if we don't contact them at the time,, contact them later," Snelling explained.
Snelling told CBS Colorado Olde Town is where they see many of their calls for service, and this system means better monitoring and increased safety.
"For now, we will be able to real-time monitor from multiple devices. Or, in car computers, we will also be able to monitor from our different stations, and we will loop these cameras in, hopefully with our cameras [that] we have stationary throughout the city at city facilities," Snelling added.
When asked Arrieta-Walden about any concerns around a 24/7 surveillance system, he said, "I like the idea of them because they give another tool for wrongdoing if you are not doing anything wrong then it shouldn't be a problem,"
The cameras go live next week, giving officers and other staff the ability to monitor them remotely. The goal is to build a full-time operations center where a team is monitoring these others consistently.
