Police taking advantage of extra eyes in the sky

Select patrols watching newly installed community security cameras

By Stephanie Brien
Journal Times

Wednesday, August 6, 2008 2:49 PM CDT

RACINE — Starting today, police patrols will be watching. They will not only be watching the street as they drive by, but select patrols will be watching the newly installed community security cameras.

The city has installed cameras at the corners of 11th Street and Grand Avenue; Ninth Street and Villa Street; 12th Street and Villa Street; 10th Street and Center Street; and Ninth Street and Washington Avenue.

Racine Police Sgt. Bernie Kupper said he expects to see results almost immediately. The camera footage will validate complaints made in the neighborhoods and immediately provide police with evidence of crimes committed in range of the cameras, Kupper said.

Police Chief Wahlen has called the department’s cameras “cutting-edge” and said they will act as a test run for future cameras.

Mark Hertzberg Journal Times Racine police officers are trained on use of the Police Department’s five new video surveillance cameras Tuesday at the City Hall Annex.

The cameras can zoom in to read license plates and clearly show people’s faces. They can also store images for a few weeks, allowing police to use the images for investigations.

No film is required; images are all digitally recorded and sent to an Internet address through radio frequencies attached to the cameras, said Jim Sulzer, a representative with the software company Volpe Industries.

Sitting in the Police Department’s City Annex training room, just more than a dozen officers listened to a representative from the software company talk about the new cameras. The group was made up of mostly neighborhood beat patrol officers and supervisors, the group that will act as the test group learning to maneuver the new system.

The test period will last one to two weeks, and then the test group will teach other patrols, Kupper said. Officers will be able to see the camera images from either their patrol cars or computers.

Later, Wahlen said, he would like to see cameras on Douglas Avenue and Hamilton Street. He also would like to see selected, trained members of the community have access to the camera images, so they can help patrol the area.

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