SkyCop cameras slowing crime at hot spots - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

SkyCop cameras slowing crime at hot spots

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It has been one week since the Toledo Police Chief unveiled the citywide video surveillance system called SkyCop.

Friday 13 ABC is following up to see if those high tech hunters in the sky are helping officers on the ground.

While TPD has not yet nabbed anybody doing anything illegal yet with the help of the cameras, their mere presence is helping with prevention.

On the East Side there are two cameras perched up at Navarre and Oak.

People who work at businesses at this intersection say the cameras have already driven drug dealers away.

"Will that be all?" Bertha Hernandez asks a customer at La Mexicana Taqueria.

Because of robberies, the grocery store has its own surveillance system inside.

Since the two flashing blue SkyCop cameras went up at the intersection outside, Hernandez says, "It keeps us safer. Keeps everything recorded, nice and calm. It's been actually calm since they put that up."

Kiddie Corner from the grocery store is East Side Tires and Auto Repair.

The owner there says he's no longer afraid to open his shop alone in the mornings.

"The crime going down. People are scared to break in," says Willy Mayah, owner of East Side Tires and Auto Repair.

A total of 40 cameras are up and running at 20 intersections across Toledo, including high crime spots like Monroe and Detroit.

"I think they're wonderful," says Jessica Reynolds, a Toledo mom. "They watch the neighborhood, they see what's going on. They'll be a good thing for our neighborhood."

The cameras are also located in high traffic areas downtown like Washington and Huron by Fifth Third Field.

Officers monitor the video streaming live inside the Real Time Crime Center at the Safety Building.

"No arrests made as of yet with the cameras," says Sgt. Joe Heffernan with the Toledo Police Department. "But I think the biggest success story so far has just been the fact that where we've had these cameras located the typical loitering and calls for police service have virtually gone away."

"I'm to the point I want to go out and get my own gun," says Josh Iler who lives on Oak Street.

Someone murdered his cousin four years ago. It's a murder that remains unsolved.

So this 25-year-old doesn't have high hopes for the extra eyes in the sky.

"What they need to do is beef up the streets and put more officers on the streets on patrol," says Iler.

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