A majority of the Charlottesville City Council agreed Monday night to study the cost and impacts of installing of publicly owned security cameras on the city’s Downtown Mall, the West Main Street corridor and the University Corner.
Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo and city Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Chapman made the case for the cameras in a presentation before Council, pointing out that private video surveillance proved essential in the investigation into the disappearance and death of UVA second-year Hannah Graham in September.
Longo acknowledged opponents’ concerns about privacy—concerns that helped scuttle a similar camera proposal in 2007.
“I think people understand that as they walk down the mall or up the West Main corridor, or in any public place, that their privacy expectations are certainly diminished,” Longo said. “Nonetheless, they still have a concern for the government capturing their image.”
To that end, he said, the department would only keep camera images for 14 days, and would only be accessed by police if they had a “specific investigative need.”
It’s not clear how much a camera system would cost—expense is one thing Longo plans to study—but the chief did say a single camera could cost between $750 and $6,000.
While three members of council supported the plan to look into installing cameras, Councilors Kristin Szakos and Dede Smith said they were opposed. Szakos said her main concern was financial.
“A lot of people have talked about supporting this, but don’t support raising taxes and trying to get more revenue,” she said. “I think for a bang for the buck for crime prevention, we can do better than this.”
Furniture and trash bags crowded the front porch of UVA’s Phi Kappa Psi fraternity house Monday. The house has stood empty since the chapter voluntarily suspended activities in November after seven of its members were accused of gang rape in a now largely discredited article in Rolling Stone. A fraternity member who declined to give his name told a reporter the chapter is “doing some renovations.”