The Brown & White

Bethlehem plans to implement a 24-hour surveillance camera system in high-crime areas as early as this summer, according to the city's Police Commissioner Randall Miller.

"We're in the phase of design and research and there is a very good chance that they'll be up by June," Miller said.

Initially, four cameras will be installed as a pilot program at the Five Points area intersection at Broadway and Wyandotte streets, Miller said.

"The area of Broadway is one of our higher crime areas," Miller said. "The intersection is very atypical of neighborhoods; if we can make it work there we can make it work anywhere."

The pole-mounted moveable cameras would be a part of a wireless mesh network. The video feed is sent back to police headquarters, but can also be monitored from anywhere in the area because of the broadband, Miller said.

"It's the equivalent of a police officer operating for 24 hours a day with a photographic memory,'' said Bethlehem Mayor John Callahan in an article in The Morning Call. He called it "... a memory that can be brought into court if necessary.''

If the pilot program is successful, the mesh network would be installed throughout the entire city of Bethlehem, Miller said.

The same cameras were installed in and around Allentown one year ago, and the city's crime statistics have gone down since, Miller said.

"Their worth has been proved many times over in crime prevention," said Miller. "If a picture is worth a thousand words, then live streaming video is worth a million."

Besides crime prevention, the cameras can also control traffic signals, as well as monitoring traffic and accidents. When the whole system is set up the features can be unlimited, Miller said.

At this time no cameras are planned for Lehigh's campus because it is a private property, Miller said.

Bethlehem plans to approach Lehigh about participating if the pilot program conducted this summer is successful, and Lehigh will have the choice whether to opt in or out of the system, Miller said.

"One of the reasons we're looking into the cameras is because a college student was abducted last year," Miller said. "Maybe if we had some cameras out we could have better descriptions of the suspects."

Although the abducted student was not a Lehigh student, recent events off campus have triggered increased attention to safety concerns.

Last weekend, Kristen George, '08, was sleeping at her East Fifth Street house at 6 a.m. when she was awoken to the sounds of her roommate screaming.

Her roommate, who had gotten up to go to the bathroom, had come face-to-face with an intruder.

The intruder ran away from the house immediately. However, he escaped with $200 and a new camera, cell phone and iPod, according to an article published April 11 in The Brown and White.

George said she has felt shaken up ever since the incident and has been much more cautious about her surroundings.

Learning of the plans for the new security cameras, George said she felt like any extra help would be a good thing.

"There have been so many instances happening recently," George said. "I think a security camera system would definitely make me feel safer walking around at night."

Besides the break-in at the East Fifth Street home, there have also been a series of muggings on off-campus streets, with three occurring in one week.

Lisa Medico, '09, who is living on the 200 block of East Fifth Street next year, said she was shocked to see a picture of her new off-campus house on the front page of The Brown & White, in connection to the recent muggings around Lehigh.

Medico said she thought the cameras may intrude on people's privacy, but in the end safety should be the first priority.

"I think the idea of the cameras is a little creepy," Medico said, "but it's definitely scary when my house is on the front page of The Brown and White when I'm less than a full block from Rauch [Business Center], so I think anything will help."

Felix Cheng, '08, said he thought the cameras would make Bethlehem an overall safer area, but it should not replace other forms of surveillance and protection.

"I think the cameras should not be a substitute for actual patrolling," Cheng said, "but [it] can help put a face on suspects. Patrolling is still very much necessary to get context on what is going on."

Cheng said safety should be the main concern of police and he hopes the cameras won't be used to monitor underage drinking.

"I don't think cops should be using it for any reason other than for finding suspicious people," Cheng said, "not just using it as another vehicle to bust parties and find underage kids, which is a much lower priority in my opinion."