City Council to spend $3.6M on security cameras in rec centers

City Council pledged to spend $3.6 million over the next three years on security cameras for Philadelphia’s playgrounds and recreation centers, the Daily News reported.

Councilwoman Cindy Bass led the charge as a response to violence at recreation centers last summer, including shootings and a rape. The program will install four to eight cameras in 162 recreation centers, according to the Daily News report. Last year, only four centers had security cameras.

The Police Department will not have direct access to the cameras in its Real Time Crime Center, as it does with SEPTA’s 1,628 security cameras and the city’s own 202 cameras. Rather, if there is an incident, footage will be provided to the Police Department, Newsworks reported.

The city’s Parks and Recreation department will manage the cameras, said Joe Corrigan, a spokesman for Bass. The question of who’s in charge of surveillance cameras is an issue that has become increasingly prominent as City Controller Alan Butkovitz continues to blast the Nutter administration (specifically, the Office of Innovation and Technology) for mismanaging its own cameras.

Funding for the program will come from City Council’s budget.

Read more on Newsworks and the Daily News.