Santa Barbara – It took three armed robberies before Santa Barbara city officials decided to install surveillance cameras at downtown parking garages.
http://liarcatchers.com/electronic_surveillance.html
Now, even though a suspect is behind bars, 22 cameras are being installed.
The police department was on high alert early this year when those robberies were taking place. Parking officials say, it was the first time a parking attendant had been robbed at gunpoint in more than a decade. Now, they hope the cameras will help deter would-be robbers for at least another ten years.
The plan is to keep a closer eye on the kiosks, entry and exit lanes and elevators. Cameras are being installed first at the Granada Garage. That lot will have the most surveillance coverage.
Then, cameras will be put in the kiosks of the remaining four garages and seven surface lots. But it’s not only about security, the added surveillance will also help keep an eye on transactions and vandalism.
“We’ll be able to read the activity around the lots and in the kiosks in particular having to do with customer transactions to make sure that all transactions are being done in an accurate and a customer friendly way,” said Victor Garza, Parking Superintendent.
It may be an extra eye in the sky, but the cameras are not going to be actively monitored.
According to Garza, “the cameras that are being installed are to record activities, the activities are not going to be actively monitored. In other words we are not going to have somebody in front of a TV monitor watching what’s happening in front of the cameras all day long. They are to record activities.”
The installation is expected to be completed within a few weeks and parking officials hope to have the cameras up and running by early to mid-April.
The project will cost $55,000. It’s coming from the parking fund and it’s already money that has been in the budget. Installing cameras has been in the long-term plan, the recent robberies just happened to add a sense of urgency.
