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Rosemont to install hundreds of security cameras at village venues

Rosemont will spend about $571,000 a year to lease hundreds of security cameras that will be installed at several public venues.

The cameras will be placed throughout the village's 200,000-square-foot entertainment district and multilevel parking garage, village hall, Allstate Arena, convention center, Rosemont Elementary School and Lange Park.

The village is paying a monthly fee of about $47,000 to Stanley Convergent Security Solutions Inc. for the cameras, which will be monitored 24 hours a day from the public safety department's command center on the third floor of village hall.

Mayor Brad Stephens said though the village board approved a five-year lease agreement for the cameras this week, the timing doesn't have to do with two recent shootings in town.

On Jan. 7, authorities say, an off-duty Rosemont cop killed his brother-in-law on the streets of the village's gated community in a shooting that appeared to stem from a domestic situation - a case that's since been handed over to the state police to investigate. On Jan. 2, a 14-year-old Des Plaines boy was shot and killed near apartment complexes north of the Allstate Arena. Cesar Garay, 20, of Rosemont, has been charged with first-degree murder.

Stephens said it's taken several years to put together the camera security plan.

In many cases the new cameras will replace ones more than 20 years old, officials said.

Village officials did not say exactly how many new cameras will be installed but did provide monthly camera and equipment lease amounts for each venue: $23,140 for the MB Financial Park entertainment district, including the parking garage and roads; $6,975 for village hall, including hallways and stairwells, the building exterior and parking lot; $6,095 for Allstate Arena, $5,875 for the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center; $4,318 for monitors and equipment at the command center; $1,192 for the exterior of Rosemont Elementary School; and $32 for Lange Park.

The park district purchased the equipment for Lange Park up-front; the village is paying the monthly fee for monitoring services, Stephens said.

The park district and school boards inked intergovernmental agreements with the village board this week that allows the village's public safety department to handle monitoring of the cameras.

The mayor said there's plans to soon add cameras to the Barry Street Recreation Center and Dunne Park.

Public Safety Chief Donald Stephens III said the cameras will allow command center officers to feed real time information to officers on the street during incidents.

The cameras are expected to be installed and operable within six months.

Charge filed in Des Plaines teen's murder

Off-duty Rosemont cop shoots and kills brother-in-law

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