By Geoffrey Ingersoll
Police in Palmer Park, Md., plan to deploy cameras to surveil the other other cameras in their district.
Ari Ash of WTOP talked to police in the area, who said that local people had started targeting the speed cameras police put up in intersections, as well as surveillance cameras. The police said that since April, six people have been involved camera damaging activities.
One man literally pulled out a pistol and used the camera for target practice. Police found another speed camera flipped over—leading police to believe a gang of people committed the crime, considering the weight of the camera. Then there was the camera set up on a stand, near FedEx Field. A man walked up to it, cut off one of the legs, and walked away.
“I guess that makes a statement,” Prince George’s County Police Maj. Robert V. Liberati told WTOP. “But we were able to just attach another leg.” He said he didn’t get too worried until the fire. Yes, one of the cameras incinerated.
Liberati, who’s the commander of the Automated Enforcement Section, in other words “speed cameras,” says each camera can cost up to $30,000. They needed to do something to deter the camera saboteurs. Liberati thought cameras to watch the cameras was a good solution.
Liberati said that speed cameras, under Maryland state law, can only be used to track speeding violations, so the station ordered separate surveillance cameras. One is in place already, and the department hopes to have a dozen more by the end of the year.