Council, Residents Discuss Security Cameras

By ANNE HOLLIDAY
WESB/WBRR News Director

Smile, you’re on “Candid Camera.” Well, you will be after the much-talked-about security cameras are installed in downtown Bradford.

City Council on Tuesday opened three bids for the cameras. Police Chief Chris Lucco will review the bids and council is expected to award the contract during its June 11 meeting. The cameras are being paid for with private donations, not tax dollars.

An East Washington Street business owner asked if businesses not on Main Street and its side streets will be able to hook into the city’s system once it’s installed.

Mayor Tom Riel said other business owners and church leaders have asked the same question and the answer is, yes, they will be able to connect to the system.

On the other end of the spectrum, city resident Ben Palagonia asked if there has been an increase in crime in the city to make the cameras necessary.

“I haven’t felt unsafe,” he said of walking in Bradford at night. “I feel more unsafe walking in the woods because of a hunter or tick than I would (because) of a delinquent.”

“We don’t have any type of crime spree going on,” Riel said, “but we do have petty acts of vandalism that occur on Main Street.”

Riel explained that if, for example, a window is broken on Main Street police would simply look at the surveillance footage and be able to see who committed the crime. He pointed to the 2011 “firebombing” at Players, saying money and resources could have been saved had cameras been installed then. He said police would have just had to show the footage to Damon Kayes – who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for the firebombing – and the case would have been resolved much sooner.

Riel went on to say the cameras are the best money can buy.

They have been tested in Bradford and “in a pitch black alleyway at night, you can tell there’s a pencil lying on the ground,” he said.

Also Tuesday, council heard from Joe Auteri and Matt DeGolier of the Bradford Youth Hockey Club, who are hoping to get a rate reduction on ice time at the Callahan Ice Rink. They pointed to the revenue the club generates, not just for the parks department, but for businesses in the city.

Auteri said two hotels were filled up during the hockey tournament held earlier this year, and restaurants benefited as well.

Councilman Brad Mangel, who oversees the parks department, explained that the city doesn’t change the rates once they’re set, but he is “working on something” for the hockey club.

Riel said he and Mangel would be happy to help the organization in its fundraising efforts to offset the cost of the ice time.

You can listen to the entire meeting here

The news leader of the Twin Tiers ... since 1947