The city of Binghamton is getting new street surveillance cameras and license plate readers installed.
New solar-powered equipment has recently been spotted in front of many city residents’ homes.
Some have questioned the deployment of the new solar-powered devices in residential areas.
Deputy Mayor Megan Heiman stated that the city is in the process of replacing outdated license plate readers and installing some new ones in an email response to queries from WNBF News.
As part of a $700,000 program to install the devices at nearly every entrance to the city, the first license plate readers were put in place in Binghamton in 2017.
For years, Binghamton police have monitored a network of surveillance cameras installed on utility poles at busy downtown locations and at a few neighborhood “trouble spots.”
The modern gadgets are set up on their own black poles beneath solar panels made in Vietnam for Flock Security Cameras.
More street cameras are being installed, according to Heiman, in addition to the new license plate readers. She did not say how many cameras and plate readers are utilized in the new initiative.
In the email statement, Heiman wrote that the technology is one of the police department’s “most effective investigative tools for solving crimes.” She claimed that the Southern Tier Crime Analysis Center, a multi-agency facility housed in the police department’s main building at Binghamton City Hall, supports it.
Read More: Can Security Cameras See Inside Cars?
Source: WNBF
