Police Using Cameras to Help Catch Bad Guys

When a Calimesa man was shot outside of a Redlands bar Nov. 19, the people involved in the melee were not the only witnesses.

The following Tuesday, Redlands Police detectives released a video that showed the shocking details of what happened that early morning -- all captured by a camera mounted on a city traffic signal and monitored by police.

While some people focused on the images of a gunman firing indiscriminately, police agencies saw the video’s impact on the investigation.

Less than two days later, thanks in part to that video, officers arrested the man they believe pulled the trigger in the attack.

The high-tech tool has been such a success in Redlands that other agencies, including the Banning Police Department, are looking to emulate its success.

System in Action

Walk into the Redlands Police Department’s dispatch center, and you realize that the fictional cop shows have it right.

The room is darkened, save for light coming in from a small window on a door.

And the radiating light from dozens of video monitors.

There are monitors everywhere. And each of them is broken into smaller sections, giving dispatchers and video operators a look around the city.

If a call comes in from somewhere within a camera’s view, all an operator has to do is click on the video feed and they have control of that camera. With a wave and click of a mouse, operators can rotate and zoom to see if they can locate the source of the call.

That’s how police came to have such a clear view of the shooting outside of Charlie Jewell’s. They received notice of the disturbance, and the camera at Orange Avenue and State Street was positioned with a view of the bar’s front door.

Randy Ortis, 22, has been arrested in the shooting and will appear in court Wednesday. Police are still looking for five other suspects, all of whom appeared in the video.

Agencies from around the region have come in for demonstrations – about two a month according to David Hexem, the IT director for Redlands.

Lt. Phil Holder is taking the lead for Banning’s search for a system. And he walked away impressed with what he had seen.

“One, obviously, is it’s like a live feed,” Holder said during a phone interview. “You don’t have ... their bit rate is so high … it was like watching television on a camera. It wasn’t jittering or breaking. It wasn’t like you were seeing every third or fourth frame. It was like watching TV, so it was very clear.”

Which gives police an advantage, especially when compared to security cameras set up at private businesses.

“These are quality cameras we have installed,” said Russ Dalzell, a retired lieutenant who is primarily in charge of installation and maintenance for Redlands PD. “These are far better than what you would see in, say an am/pm, where it’s basically stop action, and you may get a few shots of someone.”

And having that clear view doesn’t just help solve crimes, it’s been used to prevent them as well.

“They’ll follow suspicious characters or monitor areas where they have had high crime issues,” Banning Police Chief Leonard Purvis said of Holder’s report on the system. “And it’s been very effective in preventing crime in some of their areas where they have had previous issues.”

“Not only are we able to do the basic forensic work as police officers, but by having people manning the stations, we can prevent things as well,” Dalzell said. “Things like drunk drivers. We have the cameras set up so we can see around the bars, and if we see someone who’s exhibiting signs, or starts walking in a way toward their car, we can dispatch someone to check them out.”

It also gives officers an advantage as they head into a situation, such as the one after the shooting in downtown.

"(The officers) know there are cameras there as they roll up on an incident," Hexem said. "They know that people are watching. And they're able to make contact with dispatch and with the video operators to get a lay of the land. To know what they're walking into. They're not going in blind."

A Matter of Money

Redlands has paid for its system through grants, donations and redevelopment funds. No money was spent from the city’s general fund. They started small, with cameras at only a few locations. Then added more locations as funds became available.

In fact, a system was added to the 40-acre Prospect Park after the Friends of Prospect Park donated funds for its installation.

And that’s going to be the biggest stumbling block for Banning as it tries to get a system installed.

“We’ve gotten a few grants to support our program, but the only thing holding us up is the ongoing costs,” Purvis said. “We’re trying to get a firm number on what our ongoing costs are going to be year after year. I have to be able to show my city manager and my finance director how we’re going to be paying for that ongoing cost year after year.”

Part of the Banning plan included using redevelopment funds – some of Redlands’ first locations were in city redevelopment zones – but with the future of redevelopment agencies locked up in court, that’s not an option right now.

“We’ve been held off implementing that because we planned to use redevelopment funds also to help establish our program as well,” Purvis said. “So we’re waiting for the Supreme Court decision to come down.”

Redlands’ Success Story

Prospect Park is a sprawling 40-acre property that is regarded as the birthplace of Redlands.

Located against the hills in the south side of town, the park had become less a historic grounds and more a great place for people to hide out to indulge in illicit activities.

Kristin Saukel, the president of the Friends of Prospect Park, used to go on her daily walk making mental notes of where the sex, drugs and alcohol had been enjoyed the night before – and how much time it was going to take to clean it up later that day.

She said it could take anywhere from one to eight hours to pick things up and scrub graffiti off of stone pillars, some of which date back to the city’s earliest days.

Twenty months later, she doesn’t have to make those mental to-do lists any more. She has her life back.

“Before the cameras were even turned on, the hoodlums started to go away,” she said by phone. “They just vanished. I can go for my walk and enjoy it.

“We donated the money not expecting miracles, and it changed absolutely overnight.”

Part of that success comes from the design of the system. The cameras are equipped with motion detectors that alert operators at night, and an infrared system that makes it easier to see areas in the expansive, heavily wooded park.

And if anyone doesn’t see the cameras watching them, dispatchers can let them know that they can be seen. The system is equipped with a speaker that allows dispatchers to talk to the person they see on camera.

“The mere presence of the cameras acts as a mild deterrent,” Hexem said. “If they know they’re on camera, there’s a chance they won’t do it.”

It’s that aspect that most intrigues Banning’s chief.

“We really like how, not only did they have them at several locations throughout the city, but in the parks,” Purvis said. “And they have the capability of talking to people in the park. Where they see somebody in the park, they can push a button and talk to a person who’s in the park and tell them that they’re on camera, or that they’re in the park at a time that they’re not allowed to be in the park. And convey a message to the person who’s there and let them know that if they don’t leave that a police officer will be dispatched.”

But that’s not often needed, Hexem said. The proof of the program’s success in Prospect Park not only falls on Saukel’s experiences, but on the fact that about 66 percent of all incidents at the park can be handled from the dispatch center, stopping them before they happen.

Heading Forward

Banning hopes that a camera system might help them in cases such as the alleged sexual attack of a teenage girl at Roosevelt Williams Park in February.

It won’t be Banning’s first time using cameras, Holder said. But they weren’t as effective as the current Redlands system.

“The problem is the technology out there changes so fast,” Holder said. “Some years ago – 12 years ago, I think – we in fact had put cameras up in the park that were motion sensors that would actually take a photo if anyone moved into its area. But then they could take a couple of steps and they’d be gone again. With this, we could watch the events occur.”

The advice that Redlands gives all the jurisdictions who tour their facilities is to invest wisely.

“Invest in the hot spots,” Hexem said. “Target the high value locations, because the right investment makes the benefits that much greater.”

That seems to be the route Purvis wants to go when, or if, Banning is able to pursue the installation of a system.

“We want to move forward with that program,” he said. “We know it works. We’ve seen it work. Redlands has always been one of those agencies that’s been ahead of the curve in technology, so we look to them to provide us some guidance.

We want to get that infrastructure, and put in a few cameras. But then we want to be able to add-on, add-on, add-on and on.”

Download the movie