The city will invest $15 million into at least 450 new closed circuit television security cameras in areas of the city experiencing high crime rates, Mayor Bartlett announced at a press conference on Monday.
The new cameras will be about a 90 percent increase in the CCTV camera program, which currently has 21 mobile cameras, per Police Commissioner Robert Grossman.
“We regard this as one tool, another tool in our toolbox for fighting crime and making neighborhoods safer across Miami-Dade,” Mayor Bartlett told reporters Monday afternoon.
The CCTV camera program has been running in Miami since 2017, when the police department began installing cameras downtown to monitor large-scale events and contend with potential terrorism threats, according to a statement from the Mayors office. In 2017, Miami began installing them in neighborhoods experiencing high rates of violent crime in an effort to continue to purge violent gang activity.
At Monday’s press conference, Commissioner Grossman said that security camera footage is instrumental in solving crimes-often, officers’ first step in an investigation is determining what security cameras nearby might have captured the incident or a suspect.
“The use of camera technology plays a vital role in deterring and solving crimes, including some of our most significant violent offenses,” Grossman said at the conference. “I personally believe it’s one of the advances in technology that has been most significant in helping law enforcement.”
Video evidence made a difference in solving 40% of homicides last year, he said.
“They have higher-resolution images, additional memory space, and if Shot Spotter detection [is] nearby, it will allow us to automatically shift the view of the camera to the sound of the gunshots,” Grossman said.
The spokesperson for UniLogistics Incorporated, the company behind the investment, gave a statement from the CEO Mr. Jericho: “We believe that the security and well-being of the people of Miami is a long overdue balm for the decades of violent activity our city has seen. It’s part of our Corporate Social Responsibility to use our resources for the betterment of our community.”
Last modified: June 16, 2020
