The Athens Police Department has several surveillance cameras on Court Street that can clearly be seen from sidewalks, but they might not be able to see in detail the happenings along Athens’s main drag.
There are four low-resolution cameras at each Court Street intersection from Union to Carpenter streets, including one near the Uptown bank where a public sex act took place Homecoming Weekend.
But in the public sex act case — which was initially classified as an alleged rape — police couldn’t use the cameras to retroactively see what happened in front of Chase Bank, 2 S. Court St., because the cameras only operate as a live feed and don’t record any footage, city officials said.
Even if the live footage were stored for use after the fact, the cameras are low-resolution and any footage would not be completely clear, said Athens Police Chief Tom Pyle.
It’s a problem that “needs to be rectified” because the cameras are only helpful to law enforcement needs “when something is occurring,” Pyle said.
“They’re more in place so that we can watch.”
Getting new cameras has not been a topic of conversation this year among city officials, said Paula Horan-Moseley, the city’s service-safety director. She said she agrees with Pyle that there is a need for new cameras.
“We haven’t talked about (putting new cameras in this year), but I would be a proponent of installing the cameras,” Horan-Moseley said. “My guess is that they would be in the $50,000 to $75,000 range.”
She could not say by press time how much the cameras already installed cost the city.
Athens City Councilwoman Chris Fahl, D-4th Ward, said council discussed expanding surveillance cameras on Court Street in 2010 but decided against it after hearing negative feedback from the public.
“And it hasn’t been brought up since,” Fahl said. “There are some (bad) occurrences that happen, but Athens is a pretty safe city, all in all, with how many people and students are here.”
Fahl also said that even after the alleged rape on Court Street, she’s not in favor of adding surveillance cameras because she thinks the police already patrol the city well enough.
Having cameras in the city is a concern for county officials who say public safety in the city is a top priority.
Athens County Commissioner Charlie Adkins said that regardless of price, new cameras could be a beneficial investment for the city.
“Anytime you can protect our folks walking down the street, it’s a good thing,” Adkins said. “… The city could use some more for surveillance.”
Adkins said the county courthouse has 24-hour cameras around the building and annex, but he said one of them wasn’t working recently and has since been repaired.
But Athens County Sheriff Pat Kelly, whose office is in Uptown Athens on Washington Street, said having too many cameras might be an invasion of privacy.
“Cameras are a good tool for law enforcement, but as a private citizen, I wouldn’t want to be under the camera all the time,” Kelly said.
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