A new series of security cameras in four downtown locations are ready to keep an eye on crime.
The installation for the cameras was finished last week; they are placed at the back of City Lot 1 near
Circle K, at the corner of Prospect and Wooster streets, at Court and Main streets, and at City Lot 4,
which provides views of the Wood County District Public Library parking lots, and Church Street.
Six previous cameras were installed in the downtown previously, with four located at Four Corners, one at
the Community Commons area near the 100 block of East Wooster Street, and one at the Alvie Perkins Clock
in the 100 block of South Main Street.
“We’ve been working on this for quite a while,” said Maj. Tony Hetrick of the Bowling Green Police
Division. This was a joint project for the police, the city’s IT department, and the city’s electric
division, he said. The $12,000 project received $5,000 from a grant through the Bowling Green Community
Foundation.
The project got underway last fall “and then the weather got real bad,” and was pushed back due to other
priorities, Hetrick said.
“This was kind of a side project for the divisions.”
The project “finally got done and we tied it all together last week,” he said, noting there are still a
few tweaks that need to be made but “overall they’re up and running now.”
In those locations, there are two cameras – one is stationary, and the other is capable of movement.
“These cameras are better,” he said. “They’re higher resolution and they can do more.”
The previous cameras have been in place for approximately a decade. While the benefits of the new cameras
have yet to be seen since they’ve only just been installed, the previous cameras around the downtown
have benefitted the police.
“They’ve been helpful for us for a number of years,” said Lt. Brad Biller, including aiding in reviews
for investigations.
“The dispatchers are able to view and guide officers more appropriately than they would if the officers
were going in blind.”
Biller cited a recent crash at Four Corners in which dispatchers were able to pull up images of the
incident before officers got on-scene.
“We were able to see things occurring and other things that had happened,” said Hetrick of the older
cameras, but he noted their poorer quality compared to the new equipment.
“We’re just getting the word out that they’re there,” he said.
“There’s plans to expand the system. We just got word that the City Administration Building parking lot
is now covered as well,” he said. That project, Hetrick noted, was done fully by the city’s IT
department, but is tied into the police system.