COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- Ten cameras with all eyes on you.

The Colorado Springs Police Department (CSPD) wants to put surveillance cameras downtown in an effort to increase safety and decrease crime in the city.

"I don't have enough manpower to dedicate to the downtown area," Colorado Springs Police Chief Pete Carey said. "Cameras would be additional eyes for the police department."

However, those "eyes" come with a hefty price tag. Carey said the ten cameras would cost about $188,000 with an additional $25,000 each year for software updates and maintenance.

"It's not cheap," he said, "but I believe it is a force multiplier that will keep our downtown safer."

The proposed surveillance cameras come just a few months after CSPD took down red light cameras in the city. Carey said officers who were used to monitor those traffic cameras are now downtown on foot patrol.

"With the foot patrol downtown as well as cameras," Carey said, "I think we can make an impact on the comfort level people have when shopping downtown as well as conducting their businesses."

Not everyone is keen on the idea of having cameras downtown. Some believe it is an invasion of privacy.

"It's more like a Big Brother thing," Charles Adams, who works downtown, said. "But, I do appreciate the police not keeping it a secret."

Carey said the cameras are not intended to invade privacy and will ensure strict policies are in place before the surveillance cameras are installed.

"There are some really good practices and models out there for using public safety cameras that I intend to use if council says this is the direction we're going," he said.

City council must first approve of the cameras before the installation process can begin. Mayor Steve Bach has gone on the record about uneasiness with the cameras but said he is willing to test them out.

Councilwoman Lisa Czeladtko said she was happy to see the red light cameras taken down and does not want any other cameras installed.

"I don't believe in policing with cameras," she said, "but that is just me personally."

Czeladtko said she wants to hear more opinion from the community before city council votes.

"I'd like to see a plan," she said. "I'd like to get the community input, and I want business input from downtown. We haven't received any of that."

Carey said the proposed cameras are a pilot plan and said if the cameras do not prove to be successful during the one year test period, they will be taken down.

"There are a number of cities in the U.S. that are using cameras very effectively and successfully," Carey said of using other cities like Colorado Springs as models for use of surveillance cameras downtown.

The police chief said a plan is in the works for where the cameras would be installed. He said many will likely be put up along the Tejon Street strip.

City council is expected to vote on the proposed cameras March 13.