Following on the heels of a brutal robbery and homicide at an Ogden Avenue liquor store in July, Brookfield’s police chief has asked the village board to consider a law requiring certain types of businesses to install video cameras inside their stores.
While village trustees are just beginning their examination of the proposal, Police Chief Steven Stelter said such cameras would be a boon in criminal investigations such as Ogden Avenue liquor store robbery and murder.
“Bottom line, when officers respond to a crime, the first thing they want to know is, ‘Do you have any video?'” Stelter said. “It’s huge in regard to investigation. When you have video and go to court, how do you even plead not guilty?”
Stelter in a memo to village trustees dated Aug. 9 also stated that video cameras can serve as a deterrent to violent behavior and can help save injuries to employees.
Just what types of businesses might be required to install video cameras is not spelled out in Stelter’s memo, but in a separate interview last week, he said that he would like them for any business open late at night or that serves alcohol. Businesses that handle a lot of cash transactions, such as convenience stores and bowling alleys might also be ones considered for inclusion.
In addition, Stelter said that any law requiring the cameras would also specify a certain quality of surveillance system. Many businesses have cameras, Stelter said, but their value is limited because the quality is just not good enough.
Stelter forwarded to Village Manager Riccardo Ginex sample ordinances from two governmental entities that have video surveillance requirements for some businesses. Fort Pierce, Fla., for example, requires surveillance cameras for all banks, carry-out food and drink establishments, currency exchanges, convenience stores, firearms dealer, liquor stores and pawn shops.
That town also has minimum technological standards for video systems written into its ordinance, and provides for police to inspect those systems to make sure they conform to the code.
“We want there to be in the ordinance a certain quality versus just any type of video system,” Stelter said.
Requiring such systems will impose an additional cost on business owners, and there is some difference of opinion on the need to require such surveillance systems.
“I don’t think it would cost too much money,” said Mohammed Akbar, owner of Brook Food and Liquor, a convenience store in a strip mall at the intersection of Plainfield Road and 47th Street.
Akbar already has a camera in his store, installed after his business was robbed at gunpoint in 2005. Akbar said that the robbery didn’t specifically spur the installation of the camera.
“I just wanted everything covered,” Akbar said.
However, Chris DiBraccio, manager of Brixie’s Saloon on Ogden Avenue, wasn’t sure that cameras were much of a deterrent and felt the village didn’t need to impose the requirement.
“I don’t think it needs to be mandated by the city,” said DiBraccio, who added his business did have a camera. “It should be a business decision that we need to make. I don’t know if it will create more safety.”
DiBraccio said he’s had quotes for more elaborate surveillance systems, running between $3,000 and $11,000.
“But it should be my choice if I make the upgrade,” he said. “I don’t like my hand being forced, so to speak.”
One property owner on Ogden Avenue isn’t waiting for a new law to begin installing more cameras. Steven Campbell, who owns the building housing Phoenix Liquor, where July’s robbery and shooting took place, said he’s in the process of ordering high-resolution cameras that will be placed at various spots along Ogden Avenue, from Custer to DuBois.
“If you’re coming to my neighborhood or leaving my neighborhood, we’ll know,” said Campbell, who said his camera footage would be available for police to review. “I’ll be able to look at my neighborhood 24 hours a day, and so will the police. It should catch 98 percent of the traffic that comes in or leaves Ogden Avenue.”
Campbell, who said he ordered three new cameras on Thursday, claims the resolution on the cameras will be sharp enough to read license plate numbers and get clear pictures of drivers in vehicles.