MYRTLE BEACH, SC (WBTW) – Myrtle Beach Police say the $2.1 million dollar investment into about 850 security cameras throughout the city was worth the money.
Myrtle Beach Police Lieutenant Joey Crosby says the department has kept track of each crime solved with the surveillance cameras.
“We’ve had several investigations one of which was a missing person’s case when of which we were able to identity the vehicle in which the missing person was driving also we’ve had a shooting investigation which we were able to disseminate the information to the public and the public was able to help us identify the car and the possible driver of the car,” he said.
Lt. Crosby says police can tap into the cameras live feed; so depending on how fast a call comes in police can see the scene of a crime in an instant
And with 850 eyes throughout the city it gives them the chance to almost be everywhere, but there are still some blind spots.
“That’s part of the adjustments are we capturing the images that are need to make sure we’re being successful,” said Crosby.
As well as adjustments new cameras are being added to intersections. Crosby says they are not for traffic monitoring purposes but for safety
Cat Hunter lives in Myrtle Beach. She says it’s a comfort to know police can watch areas in case there’s an incident, but she says the cameras do more than just keep an eye on things.
“People who have been around here a little bit see all those cameras and say ok I’m not going to steal in this area because there are a lot of cameras, here. So it lets us know which areas are safe,” said Hunter
Police say they hope to have the rest of the cameras installed within the next few weeks.
The cameras are used for more than crime prevention.
Crosby says they’ve been used to monitor traffic patterns during Memorial Day, and used during events like Carolina Country Music fest and next weekend’s marathon.
