DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – High-tech security cameras will soon stand watch above Seabreeze Boulevard in Daytona Beach.
It’s an initiative city leaders have worked towards for almost two years after crime spikes in the entertainment district.
Now, the city reports it will start installing the cameras in the next couple of weeks.
“It’s just something good. It’s just one additional thing to help the police control problems,” Lyle Trachman said.
Shop owners on the boulevard, like Trachman, welcome them.
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“They’re not watching it to see who is walking with who, they’re using it to prevent crime,” said Trachman, owner of Seabreeze Fine Jewelry.
City commissioners said the money has been ready to buy the cameras and tools but they ran into supply chain issues.
Now, the materials are ready to go. The city said there will be eight, 20-foot poles that the cameras will attach to that will be placed around Seabreeze Boulevard.
The police will have real-time access to them. The idea came to city leaders after Bike Week 2022 when a couple was randomly attacked and killed in the area.
“That still will probably go down as one of the most complete investigations that this agency was a part of,” said Police Chief Jakari Young, “Just reflecting back on how we were able to scour all of the businesses in that Seabreeze area and put this together based on the limited amount of surveillance video that we had.”
Young said police were able to identify their suspect, Jean Macean, using businesses’ surveillance video.
“Now, to be able to have three times that amount in that area is just going to be a game changer. It’s going to be phenomenal because that’s probably the best example of the need,” he said.
Police have seen a rise in other crimes in the area in recent years, too.
Young opened a police substation just last fall so officers would be closer.
Now, he said these cameras, which will provide 80 views of Seabreeze, will allow them to monitor crowds and react even quicker.
“Just the optics of having those surveillance cameras is going to be a deterrent and then if there’s actually crimes that are committed, now we have that footage we can review,” he said.
The city told News 6 it will start installing in about two weeks with the goal of having them all in by the end of April.
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