Keep Columbia Safe, a local grassroots community organization, has offered to donate $2,847 to Columbia police for the purchase of a new surveillance camera.
The new camera, which would replace the one located at Tenth and Cherry streets, would have additional capabilities, such as zooming, panning and tilting. It would be the ninth camera installed in downtown Columbia since last fall.
The City of Columbia spent $25,000 last fall for the installation of eight new cameras, according to the Columbia city budget. The additions, supported by Keep Columbia Safe, are part of an April 2010 ballot that pushed camera surveillance in order to prevent off-campus crime.
“We want downtown Columbia to be a safe place for everyone in the community to enjoy, and we think the cameras will help achieve that goal,” local resident Karen Taylor said in a past Maneater article.
Taylor’s son Adam was beaten and robbed near the Cherry Street parking garage in 2009. She has worked with Keep Columbia Safe for the past three years to make the downtown area safer for college students and local residents.
“We know for a fact that they were instrumental in solving the case my son was involved in and feel that they are very beneficial to the community,” Taylor said in a past Maneater article.
The camera surveillance remains controversial and has received negative attention by Keep Columbia Free.
“We did not like the idea of the downtown surveillance cameras to begin with,” Keep Columbia Free President Mark Flakne said. “One, we didn’t really feel there was a need for surveillance cameras on the public streets. Two, research has shown time and time again that, government surveillance on the streets … does nothing to stop or deter violent crime.”
In accordance with the Missouri Sunshine Law, footage is also stored and held for 60 days following the City of Columbia’s filming. Fiber optic cables that run to City Hall connect them.
The cameras are currently live monitored by police.
“The cameras simply do not reduce crime,” Dan Viets, Columbia attorney and American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri spokesman, said in a past Maneater article. “They do not deter crime, and they don’t solve crime except in rare situations. A lot of people would find it objectionable to be under surveillance just because they’re downtown. They’re doing exactly what they said they would not do. They lied to the public and they lied to the voters.”
The installation of the more advanced camera has not yet been finalized.