Gaithersburg police test surveillance cameras
Gaithersburg police tested a surveillance camera near a basketball court in The Orchards neighborhood, a spot near Rachel Carson Elementary School that neighbors say is often a hangout for loitering youth, but all they recorded was wildlife and arbor.
Police are budgeted to buy up to $40,000 in portable and fixed surveillance cameras this year and will test the $5,000 battery-powered portable camera this month. They may work with the department's street crimes unit to test in areas known for drug-dealing, said Sgt. Scott Scarff.
Though a basketball court near the school has been known to attract teenage trouble, police found nothing of the sort in August.
"Actually we have had it up there for five days and we have seen not one crime," Scarff said Thursday. "I can say that the majority of footage has been of bunnies, deer and pine trees blowing in the wind."
A public hearing before the mayor and city council is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Oct. 12 at City Hall, 31 S. Summit Ave. City leaders and police have mentioned putting fixed cameras in Olde Towne or Kentlands' Market Square.
The Orchards Homeowners Association President Ted Blitgen, who is on the Police Chief's Advisory Council, gave police permission to test the portable camera, Scarff said. The camera perched near the basketball court bordered by woods and bushes at Orchard Drive and Timber Rock Lane.
"You can connect to it remotely and see what's being taped," said Information Technology Director Pete Cottrell of the wireless camera. "It can be left there for a day or so, then it can be retrieved and the images reviewed at the point."
Testing allows police to judge photo quality, batteries and see how the camera holds up in various lights and weather conditions, Scarff said.
"We know that The Orchards has had some ongoing issues with loitering and trespassing and drug use near the basketball courts — disorderly conduct and teenage disorderly behavior, being loud, being out there at night, just stuff kids do," Scarff said. "So we deployed the camera in that area."
Copyright © Post-Newsweek Media, Inc./Gazette.Net