OCALA, Fla. – The Ocala Police Department will install 10 new pole cameras around the city in order to help keep residents safe and combat crime. The city council approved the plan Tuesday.
Thanks to a $30,000 grant from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, more surveillance cameras could be used to help police solve cases, the agency says.
In the agreement, Ocala PD lists out some of the benefits of having these pole cameras, like 24-hour surveillance on hot targets, the cameras are always alert, they don’t need to answer other calls and they only require occasional battery changes to keep working.
“That’s something that can be monitored 24/7 and in some instances go back and review, so it’s a much more efficient way than having an officer standing there and staring at something,” said Ocala Police Captain Dustin Kuentjes.
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The agreement also said without grant funding for the new tech, police would not be able to combat the recent rise in crime. Ocala City Council President James Hilty hopes the new cameras will keep the city safe.
“There is all kinds of ways for them to elude, and there’s all kinds of ways now for people to get caught. I mean just take the Ring doorbell and how many times that’s helped,” Hilty said.
When asked how he feels about the recent increase in crime, Hilty said there are several factors that come into play.
“It’s just that in today’s world there is so much more to it, because of some immigration and different things of that nature,” Hilty said. “And the economy always plays into it at different times. We’ve got people that will do things that they never would have done before. But you also had the hard-line criminals. They’re always out there. And that’s what the main focus is on this year, is to try and catch those hard-line criminals that are very evasive, very smart, and can get away with a lot of different things.”
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