After more than a year of discussion on the merits, and public meetings about law and order concerns, the city of Charleston is now officially in the video surveillance business.
The first four cameras, a combination of Alibi video and license plate recognition devices, were installed by Custom Security of Senatobia two weeks ago.
The cameras are mounted on a utility pole at the corner of Main and North Church streets and appear to surveil in three primary directions — east, west and north.
The cameras feature real-time surveillance in high-resolution color, day/night functions for better performance in low light and other bells and whistles.
Charleston Mayor Sedrick Smith said the system includes a 32-channel network video recorder and a 55-inch monitor for viewing of the live transmission.
“We will be able to see it and monitor it at City Hall throughout the day and at night, and there will be a mobile app where we can monitor it on our phones.”
Smith said while there will not be 24-hour live monitoring of the feed, he feels that the phone app will help to compensate.
“Throughout our community engagement meetings, we talked about having someone to monitor, but with this company I’m able to pick up [the live feed] at any time on my phone,” he noted. “We don’t have to have someone sitting at a location at all times, because we’ve got it on our phone.”
Continuous recording and storage will allow for review at any time.
The mayor called the initial camera placement the “first phase” of a multi-phase project to erect potentially dozens of cameras in the city.
Smith noted that Charleston officials already have identified “eight locations throughout the downtown area” for camera placement.
“As we get more funding, we will move forward securing Main Street, the boulevard and then we’ll branch out into the community,” he said.
The mayor added, “We’ll start with phase one and, hopefully, two, three — whatever number of phases it takes — to get the town secured.”
The first package, costing about $7,000, was funded by the Ed and Becky Meek Foundation, Smith noted. City aldermen approved the site for camera placement, he added.
The city had applied for and been awarded a federal Justice Assistance Grant for the purchase of 12 surveillance cameras but missed a deadline and lost the funds, the mayor explained. He said the municipality has since reapplied.
“We’re going to go through Homeland Security for the grant process, the city of Charleston will be funding some cameras, and Rotary has partnered and said that they would fund some, as well,” Smith explained.
During a May 2024 Neighborhood Watch meeting, Charleston Rotary Club President Ray Clolinger said the club would be “agreeable to assist” the city’s then planned surveillance project.
At that time, Clolinger said the club could enter into a contract with the city to provide funds for purchase of 12 cameras, but stipulations he cited included a mandatory “centralized monitoring station that would be staffed 24 hours a day” by personnel trained and certified in surveillance, as well as allowing Rotary “some input into developing the grid of where the cameras will be.”
No contract has been signed and the other conditions reportedly remain unfulfilled.
Smith said he is convinced that a municipal camera network will be beneficial for crime deterrence and also assist lawmen in identifying and apprehending lawbreakers.
“The cameras are going to work wonders, I believe,” the mayor noted. “These cameras are on the job all the time, and with them we can identify people down to a T.”
Smith said incorporating technology in the form of video surveillance adds another layer to the city’s continuous efforts to clamp down on criminal activity “whether at home here or someone coming here and bringing crime. We just want our citizens to feel safe and feel secure.”
