SPOKANE, Wash. — Spokane law enforcement have bought or rented several new surveillance cameras this year and even more are on their way.
In our commitment to bringing you more to every story, KREM 2 dug into this to find out how many cameras are used by Spokane law enforcement and where they are located.
Right now, the Spokane County Sheriff's Office has five CCTV cameras on the county campus and it wants to buy two mobile units next year for unincorporated county areas.
More cameras will come with the launch of the county's Real-Time Crime Center. But, the sheriff's office is currently working with a consultant to determine how many cameras it needs and where they should go.
The RTCC is a new space in the Public Safety Building where deputies hope to track and prevent crimes in real-time, in part by monitoring surveillance cameras. The center also includes four new employees.
County commissioners dedicated $4 million to the project last year and Spokane Valley's city council committed $850,000. The sheriff's office said the real-time crime center will improve law enforcement response to crime and help prioritize solving and preventing violent crime.
While some people have privacy concerns about the cameras, Sheriff John Nowels said the cameras won't use facial recognition technology and they'll only be used in public spaces.
"This is the sheriff's office bringing technology that we have needed for a very, very long-time to enhance our capabilities and keeping our community safe," Sheriff Nowels said.
The Spokane Valley Police department has one mobile camera unit and another on the way. The one that's currently in use can be found at a housing construction site on 18000 East Broadway. Sheriff Nowels said it's deterring theft at the work site.
"It's been very, very successful and very well received by the public," Nowels said.
The City of Spokane Valley also has access to traffic cameras at 15 various intersections and areas. It's also working on a project that would deploy 50 surveillance cameras at city parks and trails.
Sheriff Nowels said parks tend to be hot spots for car prowling. He hopes the cameras will deter this activity and support deputies on patrol.
"This will allow them to look at all the different park locations in their car in a very quick fashion and then they can decide to respond to the area where there is something suspicious happening," Nowels said.
The Spokane Police Department it's on track to have a total of 20 Automatic License Plate Reader cameras. And it's leasing an ALPR trailer.
Five of the 20 ALPR cameras are mounted in patrol cars and two will be installed on the Maple Street Bridge.
SPD is also working on a grant to buy the remaining 13 ALPR cameras this year. Those will be permanently installed in areas with the busiest streets. SPD already identified several potential locations across the city and at its borders.
"As we go forward with these projects, we are working with the council to determine the best locations," Cpl. Nick Briggs said. "These will help us do things like solve violent crime, identify and find stolen vehicles."
SPD also has 15 portable cameras currently in use, with plans to add 5 more. The department can't share their locations because that could jeopardize active investigations.
It's also becoming more common for local stores to set up their own mobile surveillance cameras in their parking lots. But these are typically not associated with law enforcement but were set up by the store.
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