By Vincent BradshawThe Daily Northwestern
In an attempt to curb youth crime, police and high school officials plan to buy new digital cameras for parts of the city and Evanston Township High School.
The Evanston City Council at the Nov. 13 meeting approved the purchase of three cameras totaling $91,500. Officials with the police department and ETHS say the cameras will help prevent youth violence around the areas where they will be placed.
“They are a great visual deterrent,” Evanston Police Department Deputy Chief Demitrous Cook said.
The police department will receive two of the cameras. They will be placed based on the department’s crime statistics, but can be moved to accommodate changing safety concerns. Cook said at least one will be stationed on the 200 block of Dodge Avenue. The other will be at the intersection of Brummel Street and Custer Avenue.
There are already cameras located at the corners of Simpson Street and Dewey Avenue, and at Howard Street and Custer Avenue, but these are not portable, he said.
The new cameras will be digital, eliminating the need for tapes. They can hold images for three months at a time, and officers will be able to download the images onto their computer screens. The cameras will capture color and movement more clearly than the current equipment to help officers identity suspects.
Frank Kaminski, former EPD chief and current head of security at ETHS, said the school will compensate the city for the camera that will be located at 1600 Dodge Ave., the main entrance to the school.
Kaminski said administrators had considered placing digital cameras inside the school before he began working there this school year. He suggested school administrators consider a separate camera for the outside campus grounds because a large number of students congregate at the main entrance.
Kaminski said the disruptions that occur in the main entrance often are the result of young people who don’t attend ETHS. The cameras will monitor these students, he said.
The council voted 7-2 to approve the cameras at Monday’s meeting. Alds. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd) and Steven Bernstein (4th) did not support the purchase.
“We get more jails, we get more police, and still everybody complains about more crime,” Jean-Baptiste said. “More cameras just move crime to some back alley. I don’t think that’s the answer.”
“There may be displacement, but the cameras put a lot of people on notice,” he said. “Once they are on notice, you can change that behavior.”
Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) supported the cameras, saying she was “grateful” that the city was buying them.
“Crime is already in the back alleys,” she said. “(The cameras) are just a very good way to deal with the problem, and they make people feel safer.”
Reach Vincent Bradshaw at v-bradshaw@northwestern.edu.
