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City Receives Grant For Public Safety Items

$1 Million From U.S. To Buy Street Cameras, Call Boxes And More

Jenna Carlesso

November 07, 2010

The city will use a $1 million federal grant to pay for a series of public safety initiatives, including the purchase of street cameras, emergency call boxes and equipment for the new public safety complex on High Street.

A portion of the U.S. Justice Department grant will cover the purchase of 18 emergency call boxes, known as Code Blue, which would provide direct two-way voice links to the city's dispatch center.

People can use them to report crimes, fires and medical emergencies. Twelve will be placed at city firehouses, four at police substations, one at the Jennings Road police station and one at the perimeter of the new public safety complex.

The grant will also pay for the purchase and installation of 40 new street cameras. The cameras will be installed on poles throughout the central business district and monitored around the clock. Signs will be posted in an effort to deter crime.

The city also will use the money to buy 12 work stations and a monopole antenna for the new public safety complex. Work stations would support text messaging, video, digital photographs and other forms of communication. The monopole antenna would enable two-way mobile radio communication among police personnel.

Construction has already begun on the 150,000-square-foot public safety complex, just north of downtown. It is scheduled to be completed next year and open in spring 2012.