MONROE — Security cameras will be protecting three city parks, and one's already up at Lewis Street Park.
Outdoor cameras will be activated at Lake Tye Park in the next few weeks and added to Sky River Park later this year, the city's parks director said.
"The benefits are for everyone at parks to feel safe," director Mike Farrell said.
The cameras can capture a 360-degree view around them and record images but not sound. They are placed to not look into nearby private property. The city's rulebook says no cameras will be installed inside park buildings.
The city's being transparent that cameras are present. Signs at park entries announce the cameras.
The three parks were selected because of past vandalism.
The Lewis Street Park camera went up in October, Farrell said.
Monroe Police Cmdr. Paul Ryan said that so far the cameras haven't detected anyone committing a crime.
Lake Tye Park's bathrooms have been tagged with graffiti repeatedly. The camera in the park would be positioned in a place to watch the doors of who's going in and out, Farrell said.
The city began discussing cameras in parks in the late 2010s and passed a video policy in 2021. The policy's stated intent is to use cameras to deter crime. Nobody's tasked with watching the
cameras continuously, and recordings are deleted after 30 days unless police need to retain evidence of a potential crime, according to the policy.
