FARMINGTON — The Farmington Police Department has installed 10 security cameras downtown in an effort to increase security around municipal parking lots, intersections and businesses.
Only about half of the cameras had been activated, so far, Town Manager Richard Davis said Wednesday during a meeting of the Downtown TIF Advisory Committee.
“They’re working very well and the picture is coming out very clear,” Davis said.
Locations of the cameras include Hippach Field, the municipal lot at the Farmington Water Department and several spots along Main Street and intersecting streets.
The installation was done at the request of the Farmington Police Department, which raised the idea as a way to help with investigations, especially for traffic accidents and downtown crimes.
The cost and electrical work for installing the cameras came to about $6,000 and will come from tax-increment financing funds.
The annual cost of video storage will be about $2,500 and will be absorbed by the town budget.
In July, Chief Deputy Shane Cote of the Farmington police, said the cameras are something the department has been talking about for years.
“With cameras downtown, it would help us quite a bit with investigations,” Cote said at the time. “It can be used to verify what someone said — whether they were driving through downtown, or walking through. And not that there have been a lot of crashes, but for those that happen, now we have video footage. Vandalism happens every few months, stuff like that.”
In other business Wednesday, the committee also approved recommending to the Board of Selectmen spending up to $100,000 for decorative lighting and sidewalks on Front Street.
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