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Live Surveillance Monitors Streets By Leann Frola 8/31/05 |
The State College Police Department braced itself this weekend for the thousands of incoming students, but this year, the officers had extra help in keeping downtown under control during fall semester move-in weekend.
Aug. 25 marked the first night of live surveillance for the
three security cameras in Beaver Canyon, and State College Police Chief Tom King said the monitoring has already helped officers reach crime more quickly.
Penn State Student Auxiliary Officers, who will watch the
surveillance cameras from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, observed a fight Saturday night on the 300 block of Beaver Avenue while watching the monitors. "They immediately notified State College police officers by radio, and they were able to break up the fight," King said.
In April, the State College Borough Council voted to move forward with a plan to monitor the existing
surveillance cameras, which were installed between the 200 and 300 blocks of East Beaver Avenue in September 2003. The monitoring plan was recommended to council by the CCTV Citizens Advisory Committee, which was formed to gauge the cameras' effectiveness.
Although the initial proposed start date for
live surveillance was July 1, King said there weren't enough student auxiliary officers this summer to begin the monitoring.
"We needed to wait until we got closer to the start of the semester when we had more staff," he said. "Our goal was to have it started for when students came back, and we achieved that."
State College Police began training 12 Student Auxiliary Officers during the second week of August. King said they are rotating the shifts, with one officer monitoring each designated night from the State College police station in the State College Municipal Building, 243 S. Allen St.
Borough Manager Tom Fountaine said the purpose of the security cameras is simply to reduce crime, not to invade students' privacy.
"I think the borough has done everything they can to make sure the
surveillance cameras aren't intrusive and that they're not invading privacy," he said. "The cameras are going to aid police officers, but it's not going to be a final decision with arrests."
Although the
security cameras may help break up a fight more quickly, Council President Tom Daubert said he remains unconvinced that the live surveillance would help to curb more serious crimes such as sexual assault.
Source: collegian.psu.edu |
