Philadelphia to offer businesses incentives to install video cameras

Several cases of random assaults in Philadelphia have been solved with the help of video cameras mounted on businesses.  The city is now working to get more of those eyes on the street.

Philadelphia Director of Public Safety Michael Resnick says the city is preparing to offer incentives for business owners to install video cameras that can be accessed by the city.

“We have a program out of the commerce department currently that provides funding for businesses in certain commercial corridors to install roll down security gates and security windows,” Resnick said at a city budget briefing last week. “We are going to use the bones of that program to establish this program.”

Resnick said the goal is to increase security through more electronic eyes on the street.

“We’re trying to formulate a specification that we can tell people that `look, your camera has to be digital it has to have whatever the technological requirements are for us to monitor it,'” he said. “We don’t want people to buy inferior products or products that we won’t be able to see.”

Resnick says when criminals see cameras they stay away from that area, and the cameras can be used to investigate crime when it does happen.