Surveillance cameras gaining favor in Sikeston

SIKESTON, Mo. -- As technology evolves, questions of privacy arise and are answered with arguments for better security and more safety. The fine line between security and an invasion of privacy is one city leaders toe in Sikeston, as the city strives to lower its crime rate and make people safer.

Sikeston city leaders recently took the next step to prevent crime when they established an "adopt-a-camera" program that allows business owners to work with the Sikeston Department of Public Safety by posting security cameras near businesses.

The city's camera system was put into place in 2002, after researching a system used in Madison, Ill. Cameras were added to the system until it maxed out at 28. During a July 29 city council meeting, city council members authorized the purchase of a DVR and spare camera for the system at an estimated cost of $35,000.

Steven Burch, a Sikeston city councilman and CEO of Burch Food Services, was the first to donate a camera to the department for use outside his business of about 60 employees. He abstained from voting to prevent a conflict of interest.

Burch has advocated security cameras throughout the city and wanted to enhance the security around his business.

This is a view of Main Street south of Broadway on Aug. 23, 2013 in downtown Cape Girardeau. (Fred Lynch)

He believes cameras around his facility not only will deter crime in that high-traffic, low-visibility area, but also will make his employees safer.

"I feel when the police are able to monitor more traffic areas around the community, we are a safer community as a whole and therefore my employees are in a safer environment," Burch said.

When Burch was planning to increase security around his business, he spoke with department director Drew Juden about expanding the camera security system by purchasing the technology needed to monitor the area and streets around his business.

"I [was] happy to pay up to around $6,000 to $7,000 toward that system, because that's what I was going to spend anyway," Burch said. "All I did was offer to pay for cameras that would have coverage in the streets and surrounding businesses."

Cameras in Cape?

Cape Girardeau leaders and police have discussed the use of surveillance cameras in downtown, said Darin Hickey, public information officer for the Cape Girardeau Police Department. Some cameras already are placed downtown, though they are not active at this time, he said.

As for installing more cameras or posting them in other areas in Cape Girardeau, Hickey said the plan would have to involve speaking to other communities who use a similar system and finding what the successes or failures are. If it comes down to a decision, it would have to be hashed out among city leaders, he said.

If cameras can make the community safer, they're worth studying, Hickey said.

Mark Weber, co-owner of Rude Dog, a downtown Cape Girardeau bar, said security cameras downtown would "keep the idiot factor down" and help prevent vandalism and fights -- problems that occur more often late at night after people have a few drinks, he said.

"I don't know that it is necessary, but I don't think it would be a bad thing," Weber said.

If cameras were placed near his home, Weber said he would not have a problem with it.

"I think the most people who are opposed to it are doing something wrong," he said.

Residential watches

Sikeston's cameras are "primarily focused around public housing, schools and high-crime areas," Juden said. "Most of them are in residential areas where we had a lot of open-air narcotics trafficking."

He said the other goal of the camera system is to monitor entrances and exits.

"Cameras are just one more tool in our toolbox that gives us the ability to combat criminal activity in neighborhoods and areas with activity," Juden said.

Cameras not only survey, but also record. Those recordings are kept for up to two weeks, he said. The constant surveillance and recordings not only provide officers with a lookout for criminal activity, they're a preventive measure and video also can be used as evidence.

"That camera gives [police officers] immediate backup and immediate intelligence before they arrive on the scene of that call," Juden said. "It's like having an officer on that corner or on that block of the street where the camera is, because you always have those eyes of where the cameras are looking."

Watchful eyes over residential areas hold the potential of making home-owners and residents feel safer or uneasy. Some say the cameras are an invasion of privacy.

Burch said voters recently passed a sales-tax renewal with overwhelming numbers, suggesting they agreed with how public safety agencies were spending the money.

"I don't believe it's an invasion of privacy because they are in public areas," and they have worked to make the community safer, Burch said of the security cameras.

Juden said about 20 cameras are posted 60 feet off the ground around the city, including nine around the junior high and high schools.

Residential areas scanned by cameras include those "on the fringes of" housing authority and public housing. But Juden said most of the cameras remain in commercial areas.

Cameras are placed high enough they cannot see inside one-story houses and only view the streets, he said.

"We don't have any cameras that are capable of peeking in anyone's windows," Juden said.

The cameras rotate 360 degrees and are not fixed on a certain area -- especially not homes, he said.

"That's not where the crime's occurring, so that's not what we're interested in doing," Juden said. "We're going where the work is."

Trust in security

Ray King, residential manager for Virginia Pine Apartments in Sikeston, said most people who live in residential areas install their own security cameras.

If a crime happens, King trusts the cameras will bring law enforcement to the scene pretty quick.

"I'm a law-abiding citizen," he said. "I should welcome the cameras."

Angie Liggins, a cashier at Express Fas Gas on Sikeston's main strip, lives a few blocks away from the gas station.

Liggins said she feels safer with the cameras, because members of her family have had items stolen and someone broke into their home.

"I think it's a good thing," she said about the cameras. "The crime rate in Sikeston is growing tremendously."

Liggins said she thinks it's OK to put cameras in residential areas, and she would welcome them in her neighborhood.

"If you're doing what you're supposed to be doing, you have nothing to worry about," she said.

Supplementing police

Cape Girardeau city manager Scott Meyer said the city has bought a few cameras in the last few years, but the city also works with downtown businesses who post their own cameras in a public area.

"If we can use that in a way that helps us, then that's good for everybody," he said of the cameras.

Some of the cameras the city bought are mobile and do not provide 24-hour surveillance, Meyer said.

Cameras provide more eyes on the streets and allow officers to be more efficient, Meyer said, and the idea will continue to be examined and discussed as a possible police tool.

Juden said cameras are helping Sikeston police do their jobs better.

"Between cameras and aggressive patrols and other activities, we've seen a serious drop in crime, especially serious crime in these areas," Juden said.

"The more cameras we have, it's my belief the safer the community will be, the greater chance of catching a suspect in the act."

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Sikeston, MO

Cape Girardeau, MO