ANCHORAGE, Alaska — After a costly incident of vandalism, an airport here added fiber optic cables and upgraded its video surveillance cameras.
Back in June, vandals went to Merrill Field and slashed tires of 87 aircraft, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage, according to KTUU. The only video evidence produced of the crime was dark and blurry images.
“Seeing the photos that were released afterwards, I was kind of concerned that there’s cameras up, but … there wasn’t high enough quality images for anything to be done,” said Bob Thompson, owner of an aircraft at Merrill Field.
However, the report said the new security system was not a direct response to the vandalism.
The new surveillance system features cables that will allow for more data to be transferred from the surveillance cameras to the security teams, according to airport manager Paul Bowers. The increase in data-transfer capability allows for the airport to upgrade the security cameras from analog to digital.
The entire security upgrade is reportedly a $3.9 million project that will be completed in increments.
