New Police Cameras and Plate Readers Installed Across 19th Ward

CHICAGO — More than a dozen public safety cameras have been strategically placed across the 19th Ward, throughout the Beverly, Morgan Park and Mount Greenwood neighborhoods. Those being installed in the 22nd (Morgan Park) District are a combination of license plate reader (LPR) cameras and police observations device (POD) cameras and employ the newest technology to help fight violent crime.

“Public safety cameras are an effective policing tool,” Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) said in a news release. “Investments in technology like this one for citizens of our Ward will help the Chicago Police Department keep our communities safe.”

Installation of the cameras was paid for out of aldermanic menu money, where each of the city’s 50 aldermen are granted money to be used capital improvements, such as street lighting, new streets or alley repairs. The decision was made to install the cameras, in part, by the fatal carjacking of retired Chicago Fire Department Lt. Dwain Williams, who was shot and killed on Dec. 3, 2020 in Morgan Park. Private surveillance cameras were instrumental in identifying, arresting and charging all four suspects in this tragic murder.

Commander Sean Joyce of the 22nd (Morgan Park) District worked with Lieutenant Brian Kinnane and the 22nd District’s Strategic Decision Support Center Sgt. Vladan Milenkovic in recommending where to place the cameras throughout the community in Chicago’s far southwest side neighborhood.

Two state-of-the-art cameras were installed last month, and more cameras will be added during the coming weeks. Video from these cameras is fed directly into the 22nd District’s Strategic Decision Support Center — a technology hub staffed by officers tasked with monitoring the pulse of their communities by watching feeds from numerous cameras and other technology.

These SDSC officers also listen to radio calls for service and can immediately switch to cameras nearest to those locations to look for suspicious activity. Information provided by these cameras then is fed to officers responding to an active crime scene.

Details about a suspect’s vehicle or an individual, officers are alerted to be on the lookout and are more likely to make an arrest. Chicago police operate SDSCs in 21 of the 22 districts throughout the city.

O’Shea also worked with the newly formed the Public Safety Administration to coordinate the financial arrangements to install the cameras.

“The public safety administration is a new and emerging city department that was created to support innovative solutions and makes it possible to add these cameras in the 19th Ward,” said Annastasia Walker, PSA’s executive director. “I am happy to work with the alderman and the Chicago Police Department on this joint project that aims to reduce crime and hold offenders accountable.”