The Village of South Jacksonville is looking to upgrade security at Village Hall.
Village Police Chief Eric Hansell says the current 8-camera closed circuit security system is needing to be upgraded. He says a lense on one of the camera recently had to be replaced because nothing could be seen out of it on recorded footage.
Hansell says he wants to expand the system and get better cameras: “Currently the system is limited in camera capacity. We’re maxed out, and so we are looking at adding a different, I guess you would call it, heart of the system, which would actually add more cameras. Then, it would also bring a greater technology camera with higher resolution. Instead of being a coaxial cable-type of camera, it would move to a CAT-5-style computer cable camera system. The resolution would be a lot greater, and you could add night vision to the exterior cameras just to enhance the security of the building.”
Hansell says once he is able to add cameras, he wants to add more cameras inside the building, including the village board’s meeting chambers: “We currently have cameras in the offices, but I would prefer that they were of a higher resolution and that there are more cameras in the building. You never know [what could happen]. People get disgruntled, we will just say water bills or services that are provided. It doesn’t necessarily mean that they are going to come in [the offices] to do anything illegal, but they do come in and cause disturbances. They yell and scream at employees, and that’s behavior that we will not tolerate occurring at Village Hall.”
Hansell says it will also increase transparency by being able to recognize who is entering and leaving the building. He says while there is currently a keypad entry system. The cameras will increase the security by visually identifying who is using a key code to enter the building with a particular time stamp.
Cost to upgrade the system has been estimated at $4,250 through Matt Martin Consulting. The item is slated to be voted on by the Village Trustees at Thursday’s monthly board meeting.