A change is on its way to downtown Shreveport that could either make you feel safer, or like someone is spying on you. The Downtown Development Authority plans to install video surveillance cameras at several intersections as a way to monitor what goes on in some of the busier gathering areas, such as Festival Plaza and the Downtown Entertainment District.
"There will be six cameras and it's an outdoor surveillance system," said Janie Landry with the DDA. "They tell us that you can see if you have a note in your hand. With the cameras, you'll be able to read the writing on the note. So they're pretty powerful cameras."
Landry said the DDA's board will vote Tuesday on a bid proposal for the camera equipment itself. However, it still has not been decided, she said, exactly where and when it will be install. The DDA is following the lead of the city of Shreveport and the police department, which installed surveillance equipment in several neighborhoods a few years ago as a way to reduce crime. The move, according to some people, has been successful.
"This is where this idea originally originated--was greater security presence in the Riverfront Entertainment area," Landry said. "It'll also gives us the opportunity, though, to--as we expand northward, the new convention center--it'll give us opportunities to also have some surveillance in that area as well."
Landry said the cameras are part of the DDA's 2010 Redevelopment Plan for downtown, paid for by a $150,000 fund that was set aside for this purpose.
According to information on the organization's website, the plan also includes installing a security/information kiosk in the riverfront area as well as security lighting.
