According to reports by Newsday, Suffolk County plans to install hidden cameras throughout it’s parks 9yzzvdt. The idea behind the cameras are to help combat graffiti as well as illegal dumping.
The county currently own’s more than 70 parks which total nearly 46,000 acre’s. Suffolk County Legislators Kara Hahn and Sara Anker have both come out in support for this measure and had announced a plan to work with the Suffolk County Police Department as well as the Parks Department to install both hidden and visible cameras in areas where large-scale dumping could potentially happen
“When people know they are being watched, it’s less likely to happen,” Hahn said Friday about illegal dumping or graffiti. “Where it is, it’s got to stop, and we are drawing a line and saying ‘No further.’ ”
Suffolk County Police Commissioner Timothy Sini has said the plan is still being formalized, and could not answer the question of where the cameras will be installed. He was, however, able to tell us that the cost will be covered by asset forfeiture money.
“These are always crimes of greed,” Sini said. “They are dumping because it is cheaper.”
The idea came up during a forum help by Hahn.
Both Hahn and Anker are also sponsoring a bill that would create some sort of ‘parks watch program’, which is similar to a community watch system. The bill will be up for a vote on Tuesday.
Current Parks Commissioner Phil Berdolt has come out in support, and has announced the agency will be establishing a hotline for people to call, the hotline would be used to report bad behavior in the parks.
“The issue is vandalism, crime, illegal dumping — there are so many things that seem to be happening at our public parks,” Anker told Newsday on Thursday. “There really needs to be more oversight.”
To take it a step further, Presiding Officer Duwayne Gregory of Amityville has introduced a separate bill that would have the parks department survey county parkland for any illegal dumping. So far that bill has been tabled and is awaiting for the parks department to provide input. It is expected to be brought up again in March.