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The city is being outfitted with 18 new police surveillance cameras thanks to a grant from the Department of Justice, Police Chief Mark Kinmon said at the Oct. 3 council meeting.

The police department received the technology grant worth $250,000 toward the end of 2011, Kinmon said. The grant program was administered by the state.

The department designated nine locations in the city where they’d like to add surveillance cameras, and then sought bids. They completed the bidding process in late September, Kinmon said at the meeting.

There will be two cameras installed at each of the nine locations, the chief said.

Currently, there are 10 cameras installed throughout the city. Those were purchased over the last year with funds from several sources including grants, a contribution from the beachfront, Madison Marquette and Interfaith Neighbors, the chief said.

“Every year as we receive additional funding, the plan is to expand the system to more locations,” Kinmon said.

The first 10 cameras have proven to be “very helpful,” he said. “If we get a call and it’s in the range of the camera, we’re able to control the camera from headquarters and move it around so we can record the incident.”

Also, if the department gets a call several days or weeks after an incident has taken place, they can watch camera footage as part of the investigation.

The grant funds were also used to install video cameras in each patrol car, Kinmon said.

“Now, every time a police officer arrives at the scene of an incident or is involved with a traffic stop, those cameras will be activated and will be able to record the traffic stop and the [officer’s] interaction with the public,” Kinmon said.

Installation of those cameras is currently being completed. The new surveillance cameras should be installed within a month, the chief said.

“We’ve already been fortunate enough to have several incidents recorded where we were able to go back and look at them, and it’s proven very helpful,” Kinmon said.

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