Syracuse residents expressed support and concern Tuesday about the police department’s plan to put surveillance cameras on the Near West Side. Most of the speakers at a packed city hall meeting agreed that crime is a problem, and several said cameras could help deter it. “Neighbors are afraid to report crimes,” said Joe Chilinski, whose family owns two houses...
An area that includes South Geddes Street would receive around-the-clock surveillance from cameras perched above the street under a proposal by Syracuse police. Syracuse residents expressed support and concern Tuesday about the police department’s plan to put surveillance cameras on the Near West Side.
Most of the speakers at a packed city hall meeting agreed that crime is a problem, and several said cameras could help deter it.
“Neighbors are afraid to report crimes,” said Joe Chilinski, whose family owns two houses on Shonnard Street that have been vandalized repeatedly. “Surveillance cameras could be just what we need.”
The public safety committee of the Common Council held the meeting to learn more from police and to hear from residents. About 65 people attended.
Several speakers expressed concerns that the cameras, which police plan to mark with prominent lights, might stigmatize the neighborhood.
Julio Urrutia, a member of St. Lucy Church on Gifford Street, said he interpreted the cluster of nine cameras on the Near West Side to mean that “the Latino community is under surveillance.”
But other city residents asked police to put cameras in their neighborhoods.
“There is crime throughout all of our neighborhoods,” said Pat Body, a facilitator for the North Side TNT group. “Please approve the security cameras and place some of them on Butternut Street.”
Police have proposed using $125,000 in federal grant money to acquire the nine cameras and mount them on poles between South Geddes and Oswego streets.
Sgt. Pat Phelps told council members that police are working with city lawyers to develop a policy manual that will specify who has access to the video recordings and other details. Barrie Gewanter, director of the Central New York chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union, said the council should not vote on the cameras before that policy is made public and debated.
Councilor Bill Ryan, who chairs the public safety committee, said it’s uncertain when the measure will be put before Common Council for a vote.
--Contact Tim Knauss at tknauss@syracuse.com or 470-3023.