Schenectady's Public Surveillance Camera Project
By Robert M. Carney, Schenectady County District Attorney
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As with many other northeastern industrial cities, Schenectady saw its fortunes decline by the 1980s because one major manufacturer—the American Locomotive Company—closed its operations and another—General Electric—downsized. These job losses, together with migration out to the suburbs, reduced the city's population from 100,000 in 1950 to fewer than 60,000 residents today. The city has surplus housing, much of which is deteriorating. When crack cocaine first arrived in 1990, law enforcement officials saw a dramatic increase in violent crime and too many victims like Leonder Goodwin.
This young man's death, however, served as a catalyst for positive change. Shortly after his murder, a group of residents from Hamilton Hill came together to develop strategies to stem the violent crime epidemic in their neighborhood. One suggestion was to use surveillance cameras to assist the Schenectady Police Department and the County District Attorney's Office in their crime-fighting efforts, and to help residents feel safer in their own neighborhood. One year later, this idea became reality when federal and private funding allowed the County District Attorney's Office to purchase and install five street-level security cameras in the Hamilton Hill neighborhood. Not long after installation, the County District Attorney's Office converted the network infrastructure to wireless technology and selected a camera vendor (Eclipse Solutions), through the competitive bidding process, capable of expanding and refining this Public Surveillance Camera Project (PSCP).
A key supporter of the project since its inception has been Schenectady's Weed and Seed site. Established in 2004, the site covers the Hamilton Hill and adjacent Vale neighborhoods. The Weed and Seed Steering Committee provided critical funding to assist in purchasing and installing cameras within the federally designated site area. Another important supporter of the project is the City of Schenectady Police Department. Through the leadership of Chief of Police Michael Geraci, the cameras play a pivotal role in the department's criminal intelligence and crime-fighting efforts.
Ten PSCP cameras are operating within the city, nine of which are located in the Weed and Seed site, and they seem to have greatly assisted in crime-fighting efforts within the site. For instance, Tony's Market, a corner store on the street where Goodwin was killed, was the scene of many calls to police before a PSCP camera was installed across the street from the market in October 2004. In the 2 1/2 years since the camera was installed, calls for police service to Tony's Market have decreased by an astonishing 71 percent.
How Cameras Fight Crime
The PSCP cameras record images that are stored digitally for 2 weeks. When crimes occur within range of a camera, they are digitally captured and archived images are searched for evidence that may be useful in solving the crimes or in prosecuting offenders. For example, cameras have captured a hit-and-run pedestrian collision and a shooting. In one case, the camera's image of the vehicle used by an armed robber showed enough detail to help identify, arrest, and prosecute the career criminal who committed the robbery.
The cameras are most useful when a trained operator is monitoring ongoing street activity. Since the cameras' installation in fall 2003, undercover officers in 39 buy-bust drug operations have coordinated their activities with a camera operator. Using the camera's pan, tilt, and zoom functions, operators attempt to record any street-level drug buy within range and to include a closeup of the perpetrator. Captured images are used in prosecution. Stored images of about 27 narcotics sales have served as evidence in the charging phase of prosecution, and no defendant has opted for a trial when facing this evidence. On other occasions, police have surveyed street-level activity and arrested people for possession of narcotics based on probable cause seen and recorded. Recorded images of bar patrons drinking beer and smoking marijuana in a parking lot outside a problem bar helped the New York State Liquor Authority to close the establishment.
Cameras have also been used to protect officers by surveying an area before, during, and after officers execute search warrants, and they have been used to monitor parks and a neighborhood pool and to deter vandalism.
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Public Surveillance Cameras and the Future
Because of Hamilton Hill's success with PSCP, other neighborhoods now want cameras, and the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services has selected PSCP to be a pilot project for the state. For this project, the state is providing funding to expand PSCP by nearly 40 camera locations over the next year. As the project evolves, funds will be allocated for more routine and frequent monitoring and for the development of portable cameras. Also, with a research partner, the State University of Albany, the County District Attorney's Office plans to study the overall impact of cameras as a crime reduction tool. Previous academic reviews of camera systems have focused on closed-circuit television rather than a wireless network that is fully integrated with the police and district attorney's office, such as the one being developed in Schenectady.
The city is experiencing a renaissance of sorts, and PSCP cameras are part of it. An arts and entertainment district is developing around Proctor's Theatre, a beautifully renovated vaudeville house that is now a major regional theatre complex. Downtown Schenectady and the area around one of America's oldest colleges, Union College, are undergoing considerable redevelopment and renewal.
For revitalization of Schenectady to continue, the public must be confident that its city is safe. Crime trends have been very encouraging during the first half of 2007. Among the 18 counties in upstate New York with urban crime problems, Schenectady is in the top 2 for the greatest percentage of crime reduction. The County District Attorney's Office believes that the camera project is helping to achieve these results and is optimistic that, as this program grows, there will be fewer victims of violent crime like Goodwin.
For more information, contact:
Bill Nowak
Schenectady County Bureau Chief of Criminal Intelligence and PSCP Coordinator
Rick Voris
Schenectady County Investigator and PSCP Operations Manager
518–382–5200 (x5502)
