Naperville to install downtown security cameras
New security cameras will be popping up this summer in downtown Naperville.
The city council on Monday approved a $190,431 contract with Current Technologies to install cameras at five downtown intersections and the Chicago Avenue parking deck.
The cameras originally were planned for last fall but were delayed while the city tweaked its plan for the system.
Councilman Robert Fieseler said the cameras are a strong use of limited police resources and he hopes they will encourage good behavior from residents, visitors and city officials alike.
"We're expecting all of our departments to do more with less, including police," Fieseler said. "If we're genuine about giving police the tools so each of their people can do their job better, I think this is right in line with that."
Cameras will be installed within four months at the intersections of Chicago Avenue and Washington Street, Jefferson Avenue and Washington and Main Street's intersections with Van Buren, Jefferson and Chicago.
The cameras at Chicago and Washington will give police a 360-degree view of the busy intersection while cameras at the other streets will point in one direction but have the ability to be turned.
Police Chief David Dial said cameras would have been helpful in solving recent crimes and crashes and will help police "use technology to be a little more effective."
Five cameras also will be placed at the parking garage at 75 E. Chicago Ave. where vandalism has been a problem.
Those cameras will "provide security and cleanliness and ... maintain a sense of decorum in that particular structure," said Dave Van Vooren, director of public works.
The city will post signs alerting people as to which areas are under surveillance. Police won't constantly monitor live feeds but will have the ability to do so during big events when they receive reports of an incident in progress. They will keep videos for 30 days to review footage of a crime.
The new system also will give police the ability to tap into banks' camera feeds with their permission, allowing the institutions to avoid being fined for police responding to false alarm calls.
Naperville already has cameras at the Van Buren parking garage, test track, downtown Metra station and municipal center. The city hopes to install cameras at its electric and water facilities in the future.
Along with the new cameras, the city is upgrading its infrastructure allowing it to monitor both its old and new cameras all on one system. The cameras will transmit information through the city's wireless Internet network. City officials say both the new infrastructure and use of the existing wireless network will be money-savers.
The city council voted 7-2 in favor of the new cameras. Mayor George Pradel and council members Judy Brodhead, Fieseler, Doug Krause, Kenn Miller, Grant Wehrli and Jim Boyajian voted in favor while Richard Furstenau and Paul Hinterlong voted no.
Furstenau and Hinterlong said they view the cameras as a "Big Brother" tactic.
"I wonder where it's going to stop," Hinterlong said. "Are we going to have it all over Naperville at some point in time just like we started out with one red-light camera and now we have three?"