Surveillance video is nothing new to the city of New Haven, but the number of the cameras and where the camera feeds are directed have changed.
Thanks to grants through Homeland Security and Traffic and Parking, 250 cameras now keep watch over the city.
Emergency Management Deputy Director Rick Fontana said the need for the cameras was evident when flash flooding hit New Haven.
“We had cars under water on the Route 34 connector, and before you know it, we couldn't see it. So we immediately went to management and said we need to have that capability, that capacity, and literally in three months, as you can see, we were up and running,” said Fontana.
Now there are cameras in every neighborhood, some of which pan and zoom automatically to keep an eye on busy streets. City officials hope that the extra set of eyes will also be a deterrent for bad behavior.
“If people know that you're watching them, they might think twice before they spray paint something, or it could be more than that,” said Fontana.
In downtown New Haven, it seems to be working. The Town Green District helped purchase four of the cameras, which are now displayed at the downtown police substation on Chapel Street.
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Executive Director Win Davis said he's already noticed people watching the cameras and changing behavior.
“The cameras have given us an increased ability to research any wrongdoing that may have occurred, but really what we're seeing is people by and large kind of behaving a little bit better,” said Davis.
The camera feeds are visiblke in the Emergency Operations Center, the New Haven Police Department and the city’s dispatch center. The feeds are also recorded so officials can play them back to review an incident.
