For Mayor Keith Gaskin, great police cameras come with great responsibility.
Even with the older ones, he believes, citizens have a right to know how police determine their placement.
At Thursday’s council work session at City Hall, Gaskin began pushing for a city policy that would guide where cameras would be placed or moved. The mayor believes he, the council and the police department should work together to craft the policy based on crime data, then share it with the public.
“It’s always been the assumption that (camera placement) would be (determined by) the data coming from the police department for the high-crime areas first,” Gaskin told The Dispatch after the meeting. “I feel comfortable that’s happened most of the time, if not every time. My concern has been that we don’t have anything written that states that. We don’t have a formal process for how that’s determined.”
The conversation started Thursday when Assistant Police Chief Garland Ward reported the city should receive 10 Project NOLA cameras by late summer. Columbus purchased the cameras from the New Orleans-based nonprofit earlier this year, and they will be equipped with sensors that allow them to zoom in on sounds such as gunfire.
Once those cameras are installed, they’ll complement five “sky cop” police cameras that have been placed in crime hot spots over the past several years, as well as other more basic surveillance cameras at the Riverwalk and various parks.
Gaskin said citizens are calling him and councilmembers requesting cameras be placed in their neighborhoods and wards. With more cameras coming, he wants the city to be more “strategic and proactive” in placing them. He also wants a policy on paper that he, the council and other city officials can articulate to citizens requesting cameras.
Further, he wants to make clear what data is being used in placement decisions.
“If we don’t have a criteria that (helps) the police department make those decisions, then it becomes a political thing sometimes,” Gaskin said. “… (Cameras) don’t just need to appear in someone’s ward if there’s not data to back it up.”
During the work session, Ward said Columbus police, as well as other departments where he has worked, use internal crime data based on frequency of reports in certain areas to determine where to place or move cameras.
“We know where things are happening,” he said.
Gaskin did not dispute that. However, he said communication between the police and other officials had sometimes been lax.
He shared an example from Fred Shelton’s administration as police chief, when citizens requested cameras for two areas in Ward 5. The city was short on cameras then, so Gaskin and Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones asked for crime data for those areas to see which needed it more.
Gaskin said he never received the data, nor is he sure a camera was ever placed in either location.
Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene seemed content to leave the matter to the police department. A city policy, even if meant to avoid politicizing the issue, could end up doing that anyway, he noted.
“It seems like this is a law enforcement tool that has nothing to do with where I think it ought to go, or any of the other councilmen,” he said. “This ought to be, ‘Chief, look at your data and you figure out where these can help you.”
Then Greene asked Gaskin, “So if I make a motion for the cameras to be placed based on the chief’s and the police department’s data and discretion, does that solve what you are trying to do?”
“You know as well as I do, probably not,” Gaskin replied.
After the meeting, Gaskin told The Dispatch he believes the city’s cameras are effective in helping deter and solve crime. He also emphasized he’s not accusing anyone of misusing them.
“I’m not implying there have been cameras placed in areas they shouldn’t have been,” Gaskin said. “… What I’m saying is … (a city policy) is the way to avoid it.”
Speaking to The Dispatch after the meeting, Ward would not comment on the mayor’s policy suggestion.
When asked if he thinks the department’s current system of acting on internal data is sufficient, he said, “For me, yes.”
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
