Security cameras installed in busy public areas several weeks ago are intended to deter crime, provide evidence when a crime happens and improve the overall sense of safety for shoppers and residents.
Cameras that can see in both daytime and nighttime hours, and which will eventually be hooked up to the police station’s dispatch center for monitoring and recording on Vineyard Boulevard have so far been installed at three locations, with plans for more.
One of the public security cameras is attached to a light post near Monterey Road and Third Street, one is at the site of the Nov. 4, 2011 murder of Tara Romero near Cosmo and Del Monte avenues, and one is near Crossroads Christian Church on Wright Avenue, according to Morgan Hill police Capt. Jerry Neumayer.
Although the cameras are not yet hooked up to the dispatch center, they will be soon, though the city’s tight budget will likely not allow anyone to monitor the footage live at all hours, Neumayer said. The city council approved funding for these cameras, as well as one on Crest Avenue near Galvan Park, late last year. The latter one has not yet been installed. That’s near where Juan Arellano was shot to death outside the apartment complex in October 2009.
When the devices are connected, communications staff at the police station will be able to view the footage live, and will even have the ability to pan and zoom the security cameras, police said. Footage will be recorded in a database that can be accessed by officers and police communications staff.
Neumayer said police hope the added layer of security will allow dispatchers to provide pinpoint direction to patrol officers responding to potentially dangerous incidents in the areas, and to go back to review tapes for evidence collection and investigation.
And the city wants people to know the cameras are there, in hopes that shoppers and business owners will feel safer and potential criminals will hesitate before terrorizing the areas.
“It’s a deterrent,” Neumayer said.
A shopper from Hollister at Raggedy Heart arts and crafts store last week said she would feel safer knowing there’s potentially live security surveillance in the shopping district. Dawn Wilson, who works in Morgan Hill, said criminals might “think twice” before robbing or burglarizing a shopper on foot, or a business. The Raggedy Heart, at 17450 Monterey Road in downtown Morgan Hill, was the victim of a smash-and-grab robbery earlier this month. Some time after the store closed, someone smashed the glass out of the shop’s side door leading into an alleyway, entered the store and left with the entire cash register.
Carmen Moreno, a vendor who leases a space at the Raggedy Heart, said cameras in view of businesses could prevent such crimes from happening, or at least give the police a valuable tool to investigate similar incidents. Plus they would make visitors feel “comfortable.”
“I think we should have more cameras out here, and the downtown should have a ‘neighborhood watch’ kind of thing,” Moreno said. “If the people don’t feel safe, how are you going to bring them in (to shop or dine)?”
Patty Curtis, owner of Carta Luna boutique and gift shop, said everyone should be notified the cameras are there, or else they lose half their purpose. She did not know there was a camera on Third Street Friday.
“Luckily, we live in a town where there’s not a lot of crime, but even a small amount of crime should be prevented,” Curtis said.
A business owner whose shop is in view of the Third Street camera questioned the need for such video security, as the downtown is relatively quiet and peaceful already. Billy Ngan, owner of Main St. Bagels, said the camera gives him a slightly “weird” feeling. “It feels like somebody is watching you all the time,” Ngan said.
But that’s unlikely, as Neumayer said not only due to fiscal and resource restraints at the police department, but also to the intention of the cameras, police will only monitor the cameras when officers are en route to an incident or to go back and review recorded footage for investigative purposes. “Constant monitoring is not happening,” Neumayer said.
The cameras at Cosmo and Del Monte, Wright Avenue and those to be installed soon on Crest Avenue were chosen for their proximity to high-crime areas. Sobrato High School freshman Romero, 14, was shot and killed, and her three friends were injured in a drive-by shooting at Cosmo and Del Monte avenues last year. That location is also near the city’s Community Park, where vandalism of public property has been an ongoing problem, according to police.
On Crest Avenue, not only did the murder of Arellano happen there in 2009, but Galvan Park is also the scene of a high volume of police incidents including violent crimes and vandalism, police said. Plus, Crest Avenue is designated as a “lower income Census tract,” according to city staff. The city acquired a $78,000 grant from the Santa Clara County community block program to pay for the Crest Avenue cameras.
The cameras at Cosmo and Del Monte avenues were funded with about $16,000 from the city’s park maintenance fund, according to city staff.
