CHAMPION — Township trustees will add more security cameras for the police and road departments, both of which are housed in the administrative building.
Trustees approved Joel Davis with JED Services in Cortland on Tuesday. The cost for the police department is $3,850, and the cost for the road department’s cameras is $4,621. American Recovery Plan funding will be used to pay for the expense.
Trustee Chairman Doug Emerine announced that the police department would receive four exterior cameras, three interior cameras, including one for the interview room, and five exterior cameras, including one by the salt dome, for the road department. According to officials, the cameras will allow for far-reaching observation of locations by the two departments, including the area behind the police station and the nearby cemetery.
The road department, according to Emerine, has a ton of equipment outside.
According to Warren’s police chief Larry Skaggs, a recent homicide there was solved by finding the perpetrator by looking through surveillance footage.
“We want to have a community safe zone at the police station which can be monitored by the department for safety and security reasons,” he said.
Emerine claimed that child custody swaps might take place in plain view at the police station.
The community’s support of a 1-mill, five-year replacement police levy on the general election ballot, according to Emerine, will generate $191,512 annually for the running of the police department.
69 percent of voters supported the levy, while only 31 percent opposed it, according to unofficial and incomplete results from the Trumbull County Board of Elections.
In addition to raising the tax valuation to 2022 levels, the levy replaces a 1-mill police levy that was approved in 2017.
According to Skaggs, police departments have difficulty recruiting officers because many of them move to neighboring communities where jobs pay better. In order to fill a recent vacancy left by an officer who joined Lordstown police, he claimed to have a candidate available for the police department.
He claimed to have an officer who can be hired as a school resource officer first and then full time. She will finish her certification and the police academy in December. A female officer, according to Emerine, will aid the department in obtaining grants and in cases of criminal activity where a woman would be useful.
He claimed that he has not received any applications from people looking for part-time work.
In addition, Skaggs claimed that he is in touch with Trumbull Career and Technical Center representatives regarding the possibility of sending school resource officers to the facility, which would come at no extra cost. The SRO would work for the township during the summer, filling in for officers who were on vacation.
The trustees are also in the process of creating job descriptions for a township office employee to support department heads and for a mechanic/road department employee to fill a vacancy with the anticipated retirement, effective Dec. 31.
The Dec. meeting will address the hirings. 5 meeting, officials said.
The residents of Dalton Drive have complained to road supervisor Shawn Davis about their garages and yards flooding during heavy rains because the creeks can’t hold the water, he said.
According to officials, there are 12 homes on Dalton Drive. Some attendees who expressed concerns at the meeting.
The trustees will meet with the homeowners and look into any potential Environmental Protection Agency problems in the area, according to Emerine.
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Source: Warren Tribune Chronicle
