ST. JOSEPH -- The city of St. Joseph is beefing up security in a few public parks with surveillance equipment.

In August, the St. Joseph City Council officially approved the purchase of "vandal-proof" standalone security cameras for Millstream and Centennial parks, and along a portion of the Wobegon Trail, at a cost of just under $2,000.

The funding is new, but the idea is not. City administrator Kris Ambuehl says this plan has been in the pipeline for several years following multiple incidences of vandalism in several city parks.

The cameras will be large, visible and durable, encased in glass to keep them protected from would-be vandals, say Ambuehl.

It's a heavy-duty camera. It may have a glass encasement to to keep it from being easily tampered with or destroyed. And, the purpose is to put it out of reach of people and secure our investment in the cameras in the first place.

Ambuehl says the goal is for the very existence of the equipment to thwart property crime altogether.

 

The number one use for the cameras is to deter it from happening in the first place. But, the contingency is that, in the event there is some incident, we can review the who what when where of it, and then the police can review it and see if (the footage) can be use in an investigation.

Ambuehl says the cameras will be installed in late September or early October.

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