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Security Cameras Will be Watching Downtown Canton

Downtown Canton
Tim Rudell
/
WKSU
Downtown Canton

Canton City Council has approved installing security cameras in the city’s center.  The plan is in response to an increase in people visiting downtown.

Patrick Barton, City of Canton IT DIrector
Credit Facebook
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Facebook
Patrick Barton, City of Canton IT DIrector

The 10-camera system will provide continuous surveillance of the heart of the city.  That’s the area Canton has been revitalizing with an arts district and the conversion of old commercial sites into urban-life-style lofts. The city wanted cameras two years ago but couldn’t afford the $80,000 price from a national vendor.

Now a local company is offering to do the job for half that. 

Canton IT Director Patrick Barton says the city is in a better position to buy, as well.

“We were able to do away with some historical maintenance contracts as we were able to move to new solution this year.  And that allowed us to free up some money in the capital budget that we were able to use to pursue this camera project.”

The cameras will feed into a wireless system that police can access at any time. 

Copyright 2021 WKSU. To see more, visit WKSU.

Tim Rudell
Tim Rudell has worked in broadcasting and news since his student days at Kent State in the late 1960s and early 1970s (when he earned extra money as a stringer for UPI). He began full time in radio news in 1972 in his home town of Canton, OH.