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Cameras Protect Cemeteries12-23-08 | News

Cameras Protect Cemeteries

Solar powered security cameras installed in Greensboro, N.C. parks are being considered for use at local cemeteries being vandalized. The $6,000 units take flash photo after announcing an image is being sent to the police.

The parks and recreation department would like to expand a successful tactic used against vandalism in parks to include the city?EUR??,,????'?????<

All four of the city?EUR??,,????'?????<

In Union Cemetery, the city?EUR??,,????'?????<

In Forest Lawn Cemetery, gravestones were spray-painted. In Maplewood Cemetery, cut fences would be repaired and then cut again within days, vandals would dump trash in the cemetery and spray paint gravestones with gang graffiti, Wilson said.

Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small asked the department to use the automatic, solar-powered cameras that have rotated among the city?EUR??,,????'?????<

Bellamy-Small asked that the cameras be considered as a safety measure because there?EUR??,,????'?????<

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The vandalism at Maplewood was all but stopped after intervention from the city?EUR??,,????'?????<

The cameras could free up police resources to address other crimes, while still deterring vandalism at the park, Wilson said.

The cameras, which are bulletproof and solar-powered, turn on when they detect someone nearby when the park is closed. Speakers attached to the camera announce that the park is closed, and a photo is being taken and will be sent to police.

Then, the camera takes three flash-lit photos. The photos always follow the same pattern, Wilson said.

First, ?EUR??,,????'?????<

No one has yet been charged with any crime as a consequence of the flash cameras, Wilson said.

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Wilson hopes he can find grant money or donors to increase the number of $6,000 cameras in use and encourage city residents to take ownership of cemeteries the way they have through the successful ?EUR??,,????'?????<

Of the five cameras the city has, three rotate among dozens of parks.

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