A CCTV system installed in four public housing developments
in Rockford, Ill., has played a role in drastically bringing
down crime. The wireless CCTV system, installed last
October, has brought about less criminal activity in the
area according to the Rockford Housing Authority.
The housing developments had been known as a breeding groundfor drug dealing, gambling and public drinking, with 70percent of the crimes being committed by those outside thecommunity, according to Investor’s Business Daily.
“By no means are we suggesting this one tool will totallyeradicate crime,” Lewis Jordan, executive director of theRockford Housing Authority, told Investor’s BusinessDaily. “What we are seeing as a result of putting up thesurveillance cameras is less (criminal) activity.”
Systems integrator Montel Technologies installed the systemthat utilized four wireless CCTV cameras in each complexplaced in crimes deemed by police and the housing authorityas being high-crime areas in a project that cost around$240,000. Each of the 16 cameras were placed in bulletproofenclosures build specifically by Montel attached to lightpoles with a blue police light to provide an additionaldeterent to crooks.
Video from the cameras is transmitted to a central stationand can be also accessed via the Web by the housingauthority and local police.
