newsnews

Smile for the security camera

Council votes to award $163,525 bid for company to install 30 cameras in parking areas

Credit: Robert C. Reed

Hickory Police Department Capt. Thurman Whisnant gives a presentation on a municipal surveillance system project for downtown Hickory to city council.

By Richard Gould
Published: April 22, 2009

» 10 Comments | Post a Comment

HICKORY --

Hickory police will soon be keeping a high-tech eye out on parking lots in downtown Hickory and the SALT Block.

On Tuesday night, the Hickory City Council unanimously voted to award a $163,525 bid to Carolina Video Security Incorporated to install 30 cameras in the downtown and Patrick Beaver Memorial Library parking areas.

The money will come from the Capital Reserve-Parking Fund, which is formed by the leasing of parking spaces in downtown Hickory and from parking fines, said Assistant city Manager Warren Wood, adding that the fund currently has about $1.8 million in it.

During his presentation to the council, Hickory police Capt. Thurman Whisnant said a team was established to look into possible security systems and their vendors in response to several incidents in downtown Hickory, including two shootings in 2008.

Whisnant said one of the shootings was a murder that happened on Jan. 11 in a city parking lot that had no camera. The other shooing happened on Aug. 24 on the lower level of the city's parking deck, where cameras were already installed but the video footage was of such poor quality that no suspects could be identified and the makes of some of the vehicles involved could not be determined.

The surveillance system's price includes installing public and private "wi-fi" Internet capability in the Union Square common area. The system's infrastructure is designed to be easily expanded should the city decide to add more cameras, Whisnant said.

The cameras will include a mix of standard Internet platform, high definition and pan, tilt and zoom cameras that can be remotely controlled.

Whisnant said the cameras will transmit their footage wirelessly to the city's existing communications antenna, which will send them to a video server in City Hall. The footage would then be viewed on the Internet by authorized users or in the HPD's communications center on two 42-inch monitors included in the bid.

The footage from the cameras will remain on the server for 30 days, Whisnant said, and the majority of the cameras will be motion activated and will record only when triggered. He added the footage will be accessed as needed in response to emergency calls and will not require additional personnel to constantly monitor it.

Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins said the only exterior cameras in Hickory are in the parking deck, the HPD, the Public Works Building and five cameras at traffic intersections.

Whisnant said the 30 new cameras would allow increased surveillance during Hickory events, such as Oktoberfest, and provide crisp, usable footage far superior to what is currently available.

Project installation time is estimated to take between 30 to 60 days.