Lowndes County will soon begin installing camera systems at several of its buildings after a break-in at a county road barn in early August.
Supervisors unanimously approved spending $10,000 for security camera installation at the county’s five district road barns, the central barn, Lowndes County Courthouse, the administration building and Lowndes County Justice Court.
Two men were arrested for the Aug. 8 incident, after one allegedly stole a truck from Perma Corporation, located at 125 Armstrong Road, took it to the Lowndes County vehicle barn in Caledonia, set it on fire, and then stole a Lowndes County pickup. The man, 34-year-old Edward Jones, was later found in Pickens County after he abandoned the county truck to steal another truck. The second suspect, 25-year-old Justin Painter, turned himself in the day after the incident.
County Road Manager Ronnie Burns said the alleged thieves knocked down a gate, took two pickups, some chainsaws, a pole saw, mosquito sprayer, fuel tank and some toolboxes.
After the incident, supervisors directed county Information Technology Director Lance Bishop to review how to improve security.
County Administrator Ralph Billingsley said Bishop suggested putting cameras at each location, with some cost-saving measures that use equipment the county already has.
“We’ve got some older PCs that he will repurpose to save footage,” Billingsley said. “It keeps about a two-week buffer that we can look at in case of an incident.”
‘It should more than pay for itself’
Billingsley said camera installation should cost about $3,000 at the courthouse, $3,500 total for the five road barns, $1,000 for justice court, $700 for the county administration building and $800 for the road department central barn. The $10,000 supervisors approved leaves about $1,000 for overages.
Bishop told The Dispatch he’s looking at purchasing cameras from Ubiquity that record in color and high-definition. The cameras also have a “night-vision” mode for recording in the dark. He said traditional security cameras can cost about $300-350 apiece, but Ubiquity’s cameras only cost about $100 each.
He said the company also provides free software that will let him program the DVR (digital video recorder) to his liking, which in turn allows him to put hard drives in the old county computers and use them to save footage.
There’s not yet an installation timeframe, Bishop said, as he still has to order the cameras. He said it will likely take a few months to get the entire system installed at each building.
Bishop said the courthouse cameras system will include a video display near the front entrance where security guards are posted to allow them to monitor camera feeds.
“The other great benefit is that as people are coming and going, they’ll be able to see that those cameras are in place,” he said. “That, in itself, will act as a good deterrent.”
Bishop said a similar setup will likely be installed at the justice court.
Cameras at the barns will just save footage, rather than be monitored in real-time, Bishop said.
“The reality of all those county barns is during the day, all that equipment is out,” he said. “So at night they come in and lock it up and everyone leaves, so there’s no real way of monitoring it.”
Still, it’s possible that a remote monitoring system could be set up with the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office in the future, Bishop said. But he noted that might be difficult with limited connectivity options at the road barns. Even so, he said the saved footage should be enough for officials to review, if an incident happens.
Bishop said the camera system is a cost-effective way for the county to prevent or mitigate future incidents like the barn break-in.
“Even with our insurance, what that’s going to end up costing us more than what the camera system is,” he said. “So this will act as a deterrent and will also hopefully reduce our insurance some. It should more than pay for itself in short order.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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