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Is Big Brother moving to Fairfield?

Daily Republic | February 24 2005

FAIRFIELD - Wave as you walk into the Fairfield Community Center and the image on the TV screen facing you will wave back.

The cameras lining the entrances of the recently renovated community center are also linked to monitors that record any suspicious activity. The TV screens next to the entrances are a warning to potential vandals and crooks.

"This is so they know they are being watched," Fairfield Park Planner Fred Beiner said. "This is a check to make them think about their behavior."

Reacting to fears Fairfield's parks and facilities are no longer safe, the Community Services Department has put in cameras at the community center, four of its parks, the Fairfield Senior Center and Paradise Valley Golf Course.

The plan to increase surveillance emerged last year when the Community Services Commission researched ways to make Allan Witt Park safer.

While Allan Witt was the epicenter of the concerns about graffiti, vandalism and crime, the city was also getting feedback that other parks such as Laurel Creek, Dover and Lee Bell were home to unwelcome problems.

Putting in the cameras is one of the first ideas to become reality. Some of the others will be reviewed when the Community Services Department looks at its budget this year.

"We want people to know we are listening to their concerns about safety," Beiner said. "We will be watching those people who don't play by the rules."

Allan Witt Park was the first to get cameras. The nine cameras give the park 24-hour coverage.

The sports center staff in Allan Witt Park have already made several calls to police because of illegal activity spotted on the camera monitors, Community Services Supervisor Ron Collins said.

"It is mostly at the skateboard park or late at night when the park closes," Collins said. "We feel it is working, but it is still early in the game."

It makes city staff feel safer and parents who drop their children off at classes notice the cameras, Collins said.

Parent Melissa Lanza, whose child attends the K-Motion class at the sports center, didn't notice the cameras but called it "a great idea."

"Any time there is extra security, it's good, especially when there are little children around," Lanza said.

Parent Monika McSweeney agreed, saying the cameras are great.

But even with them in Allan Witt Park, "I still won't let my kids play in the park."

Soon, the city will install cameras at Laurel Creek Park, Dover Park and Lee Bell Park, Beiner said.

In addition to the cameras at the Community Center's entrance, there are cameras outside both restrooms which were magnets for homeless before the renovation.

The gates leading to the new playground area are now connected to alarms that will sound if children open them and alert the preschool teachers.

So far, the surveillance has gotten good reviews from those using the center and Allan Witt.

"It's all right," Jesus Garcia said, waving at one of the cameras in the community center. "I don't do anything wrong here and if it keeps the perps out that's just fine by me."

One person who didn't like being watched in Allan Witt Park had taken to climbing one of the buildings and repeatedly cutting the wires to the camera there.

The community services department countered by 'fixing' the wires to the first camera and quietly put up a second a distance away with its lens trained on the first one.

Not long after, the vandal returned and was caught on tape cutting the wires. Police arrested him not long after.

Reach Ian Thompson at 427-6976 or at ithompson@dailyrepublic.net.

Areas in which Fairfield placed cameras:

Allan Witt Park

Fairfield Community Center

Fairfield Senior Center

Paradise Valley Golf Course

Approved sites for putting cameras:

Dover Park

Laurel Creek Park

Lee Bell Park

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