Downtown Syracuse gets 10 security cameras

SYRACUSE — Downtown Syracuse has had about $340 million invested in its development and is now home to 3,100 residents. 

 

The Downtown Committee of Syracuse, Inc. cites both factors in its belief that the area “should maintain its status as one of the safest neighborhoods in the city of Syracuse.”

 

The organization on July 1 announced the installation of 10 security cameras throughout the city’s downtown “core” and distributed a news release on the topic that same day.

 

The Downtown Committee used a state grant of nearly $79,000 that New York State Assemblyman William Magnarelli (D–Syracuse) secured to pay for the cameras. 

 

The Committee owns the cameras and will pay for maintenance.

 

The Downtown Committee installed the cameras in areas with “high visitor traffic and expanding residential populations.”

 

The organization selected the camera locations in collaboration with the Syracuse Police Department, the Downtown Committee said.

 

Plans call for wiring the security cameras into Syracuse Police Department’s existing camera network.

 

The security cameras will add “immeasurably” to the quality of life in the downtown area, Magnarelli contended in the news release. 

 

The downtown area has several residential apartments and condominiums that have attracted new residents, and safety is a “primary concern,” the Democrat said.

“Safety is also a primary focus of businesses and special events held in the downtown area. It is for these reasons that I secured funding for security cameras in our downtown community,” said Magnarelli.

 

As the downtown area continues to evolve, the Downtown Committee wants to protect the investments that developers and residents are making, Merike Treier, executive director of the Downtown Committee of Syracuse, said in the release. 

 

The new cameras are tools that “supplement the existing security program,” she said.

 

“It’s very important to us that our residents, property owners and retailers continue to feel safe, and that downtown continues on its upward trajectory,” said Treier.

 

The Syracuse Police Department has already seen a reduction in crime as a result of the security cameras installed in other sections of the city, the Downtown Committee said. 

 

Research finds that cameras reduce disorder-related crimes, and helps with prosecution by linking persons of interest back to the scene of the recorded incident(s), according to the news release.

 

The Downtown Committee of Syracuse says it is a private, nonprofit, downtown-management organization representing all property owners and tenants within the city’s central business district.