LAURINBURG —Laurinburg is considering spending $50,400 a year to help provide its police department with high-tech surveillance cameras.
The Laurinburg City Council discuss the cameras during a budget workshop Wednesday on its proposed $32,047,768 budget plan.
The equipment — 10 Tsunami surveillance cameras — would provide a 360-degree view in ultra high definition image quality. Each unit would be housed in a bulletproof casing and store 25 days worth of video at a time.
City police will have access to the video feed in real time with live streaming through Tsunami’s partnership with Verizon Wireless.
The camera also is capable of zooming nearly 100 yards while maintaining clear imaging, according to Steve Teachout, the founder of Ocean 10 Security and the Tsunami camera.
“These are rapidly deployed — they can go anywhere anytime.”
Teachout said the cameras often help deter crime. He said one of his cameras was recently installed in a deserted park in Florence, S.C., and people started bringing their children back to the area to play.
Police Chief Darwin Williams recommended the city have a minimum of nine cameras.
“If we are really serious about crime and doing something with crime here in Laurinburg, I think we should a least follow what the chief is suggesting and see how it goes for a year or so and make the adjustments from there,” said council member J. D. Willis.
Other city’s using the new technology include Durham, Wilmington, Goldsboro, Charleston, Boone, and Lenoir — among many others, according to Teachout.
Each unit will be rented on an annual basis for $5,600 that includes maintenance costs, and whenever a unit is outdated it will be swapped with a new one housing the latest technology at no additional charge to the annual rate. The cost per camera also includes the data plans through Verizon, and insurance costs. The cameras also come with a lifetime warranty.
There are also no installation costs associated with the surveillance systems.
“Any other camera system — IT guys would say there is no way we can support that, you would have to have fiber optic cables around the city and spend $2 million just to support this thing,” said Teachout. “Instead we just store it locally.”
No action was taken on including the cameras in the proposed budget. Council will consider the entire budget plan after a public hearing on June 20.
The budget presented by City Manager Charles Nichols will keep the current tax rate at 40 cents per $100 valuation. There are also no fee increases. The proposed budget includes adding several new positions — a public information officer and Main Street program coordinator, an IT and fiber director and two additional police officers. There would also be $100 Christmas bonus for all employees and a three percent cost of living allowance if the budget is approved.
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