The council on Oct. 7 approved without opposition the Strategies for Policing Innovation grant. The $646,706 grant is from the U.S. Department of Justice and runs until Sept. 30, 2022.
Saginaw Police Chief Robert M. Ruth said the funds will largely be used for additional surveillance video cameras. The city has had surveillance cameras in some neighborhoods since 2012, with 11 along Hamilton Street in Old Town since 2015.
“Camera technology is just like phone technology — the older it is, the weaker it is; the newer it is, the better it is,” Ruth said. “We’ll be getting better, more up-to-date cameras where we can actually see things. We’ll have better cameras.”
The new cameras are expected to go up in the downtown area, Ruth said.
“It’s something we’ll be working on the next four to five months,” Ruth told MLive. “We have to do some more research and figure out what to do. Other than that, I’d just be speculating.”
Among the aspects that will be researched are vendors, the number of cameras and their specific locations, Ruth said. His staff will also be looking at other cities with similar systems, such as Chicago and Birmingham, Alabama.
“A lot of the bigger cities have systems in which they track what’s going on when crimes occur,” he said. “We’re just doing everything we can to help reduce crime and help make the place safer for citizens to live.”
The cameras will be recording 24/7 and can be live monitored by department staff.
The cameras are in addition to those installed by some Saginaw businesses per a city ordinance.
The grant also provides resources and opportunities for the Saginaw Police Department to identify and define the city’s most pressing crime problems, funds department personnel training and the purchase of technology-based crime-fighting tools, according to council documents.
The city council also approved three other grants for the police department: a $28,499.95 State Homeland Security grant for the purchase of a “throw phone” system, Victim Specialist Program grant through the Office for Civil Rights and U.S. Department of Justice for $276,000, and a Strategy to Enhance Law Enforcement Response to Victims or (ELERV) grant from the U.S. Department of Justice for $30,000.
A throw phone system would be used by the department’s Emergency Services Team in a barricaded gunman scenario. The system would provide police with a line of communication with the gunman, Ruth said.
“We can’t just throw a $100 iPhone in,” the chief said. “It’s something extremely heavy duty so they can’t break it. It should help keep officers safe and diffuse situations a bit quicker.”
©2019 MLive.com, Walker, Mich. Distributed bynTribune Content Agency, LLC.
