CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The video surveillance cameras on the campus of the University of Illinois have been so effective that the city hopes to use the technology to monitor beyond the campus.
On Tuesday, city council will vote on whether or not to install more security cameras, the News-Gazette reports. The cameras would be owned and operated by the University of Illinois Police Department.
The surveillance cameras have been used in 300 criminal investigations between September 2011 and December 2015. In 127 of those, the cameras helped identify subjects that normally wouldn’t have been ID’d without them, according to the report.
Notable instances where the cameras have been helpful include a man arrested after attempting to sexually assault an 18-year-old woman at 3 a.m., and a sex offender exposing himself at the campus library.
The current video surveillance system features 1,444 cameras with an additional 200 that are expected to be added within the next year.
