COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- A bird's eye perspective and a better sense of security has pushed the Colorado Springs Police Department to install 13 downtown security cameras.
The cameras, are located in what CSPD call higher risk areas along Tejon and Nevada.
"They can capture that assault on camera and radio to our officers on the street the description of the suspect, the direction of travel," Commander Pat Rigdon of the Colorado Springs Police Dept. said.
The cameras, monitored by 12 volunteers can pan, tilt, and zoom up to two-and-a-half blocks away and coincide with foot patrol officers working the downtown core.
"Let's pretend that they focused in and saw some kind of activity at Uncle Wilber's Park they want to go back and look at what they just saw they can quickly go in and look at the last 30 seconds," Sgt. Jeff Strossner of the Colorado Springs Police Dept. said.
The volunteers who've all done up to 20 hours of training and undergone a background check will be using the cameras to scan the streets and parking lots.
"That's one of the big deals about this whole thing is getting some of these people off the streets, and this is going to be wonderful for that," Bob Lockwood, who is monitoring the cameras said.
The cameras cost $163,000 and the first three years of maitenance fees have been paid for by Downtown Development Authority.
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