Surveillance cameras coming to Dover

Some extra eyes will be watching out for crime in Delaware’s capital city.

Some extra eyes will be watching out for crime in Delaware’s capital city.

The first of several planned surveillance cameras is being installed near a parking lot at the Minor Street Alley and South Governor’s Avenue. Dover Mayor Carleton Carey says in addition to police watching out for crime, the general public will be able to access the cameras. “They can be monitored on anybody’s computer. We’ll have a link to where it will have the downtown cameras on the link.  Anybody could just pull it up and look and see what’s going on downtown through the cameras.”

The initial funding for the camera program was made available through the Downtown Dover Partnership, which shifted $68,000 form a parking reserve account to get the camera program off the ground.  An additional $15,000 grant was made available by the Delaware Community Foundation.

Senator Tom Carper (D-Delaware) says the extra layer of security that the cameras add could increase home ownerships in the city. “One of the reasons why the home ownership here in Dover and Georgetown and Wilmington is not higher, is concerns about safety.” Carper says a number of cities and towns around the country are adding cameras as an more cost efficient way to increase security.

Mayor Carey says the total number of cameras that will be added in Dover depend on the city’s ability to get funding.  He’s hoping to add four additional cameras for a total of five monitoring the downtown area.