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First Security Cameras Installed In West Side Neighborhood

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Ohio

The first of more than 100 security cameras was installed in the Hilltop neighborhood on Tuesday in hopes of reducing violence, drugs and prostitution.
The first camera was placed near the corner Sullivant and Clarendon avenues, 10TV's Chuck Strickler reported.
The box on the utility pole actually holds two fixed and one 360-degree rotating camera. The live images are broadcasted back to a police substation, and to City Hall, 24 hours a day.
They will be monitored during peak hours and the video can be used as possible evidence for upcoming criminal cases, Strickler reported.
Mark Henderson, a letter carrier, had walked his mail route on Sullivant Avenue for five years.
He hoped the cameras along the road and at the three other intersections down the street would make a difference.
"Drugs, prostitution, I see it all," Henderson said. "I just try to keep walking. (A) couple times I've had to dive into bushes with guns going off."
"This is one of safety, not one of Big Brother," said Mayor Michael Coleman. "This is one of keeping violent crime in check. There shouldn't be a Big Brother issue because the houses will be masked and the cameras will be directed to public areas, and so this is just extra eyes on public areas, and keeping private areas confidential."
The high-definition cameras will be installed at three other intersections along Sullivant Avenue by the end of the week and will be fully operational by next week, Strickler reported.
Mount Vernon is the next neighborhood getting the cameras. All of them should be in by the end of the year.
The cameras cost $2.5 million, which was allocated from the capital fund.

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2011…