Ready for your close-up? New surveillance cameras rolling

Chicago Tribune
Jan. 15, 2006

TINLEY PARK -- If you're downtown, electronic eyes are watching you.

Fifteen surveillance cameras recently were mounted on street corners along bustling Oak Park Avenue, most focused on the train station and accompanying parking lots near 173rd Place.

"We've had them inside the train station, but with homeland security issues we decided to put some outside," said Police Chief Michael O'Connell.

Most of the cameras are fixed, but some pan and tilt to cover larger areas. They are sensitive enough to pick out license plates, the makes and models of vehicles and people's faces.

O'Connell said there have been no complaints from residents about privacy rights because the cameras block out nearby residential areas.

A few years ago surveillance cameras were installed on the growing southwest end of town along 183rd Street near North Creek Drive and Harlem Avenue, O'Connell said.

The new cameras should help decrease vandalism and give police more eyes during special events, O'Connell said. Officers in their patrol cars can monitor the images.

More cameras soon could be installed in parks, shopping areas, school grounds and the 80th Avenue train station, officials said.