ATLANTA — The city council here voted to spend $2.25 million to add more than 100 cameras to its surveillance program throughout the city in an effort to curb crime, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Once the legislation is signed, contractors will install 92 cameras in Zone 5 police district, which includes downtown, midtown, Atlantic Station, Georgia Dome, Georgia State University and Georgia Tech. An additional 20 cameras will be deployed throughout the city’s remaining five zones. The cameras will provide real-time information sharing through Atlanta’s Operation Shield Initiative.
With the addition of the 112 new cameras, the Loudermilk Video Integration Center will monitor 762 cameras. The center, which opened last September, links communications between Atlanta police, private security forces and other government law enforcement agencies. In the future, city officials hope to build a network that would include thousands of wireless and fiber optic cameras.