''Operation Shield'' Extends to Parks and Rec

Atlanta will spend $1,050,000 over the next three years to install security cameras at park facilities. The city already has some 750 video surveillance cameras, but projects there'll be 10,000.

Tired of park vandalism and thefts, the Atlanta City Council on Feb. 18, 2013 approved a contract for GC&E Systems Group Inc. and Convergint Technologies LLC to install cameras in 27 city recreation facilities. Atlanta will shell out $350,000 a year for three years to install the security cameras at park facilities, including pools, recreation centers and other areas that host after-school programs. The city plans to connect the cameras to the Atlanta Police Department's Loudermilk Video Integration Center (VIC), an idea Mayor Kasim Reed has already proposed for all of the city's public schools.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that by this fall, there will be cameras in all 11 recreational centers that have after-school programs.

Recreation staff at several rec centers where cameras are already in place have thwarted several attempts at vehicle break-ins by alerting police.

Atlanta Police currently watch real-time video footage captured from an estimated 750 cameras at the Loudermilk VIC, a surveillance program commonly referred to as Operation Shield. It's reported that over the next five years Atlanta will have 10,000 video cameras across the city integrated to Loudermilk.

In a related story, the city has been taken to task for having four of 35 water facility surveillance cameras out for repairs.