I-Team: Effectiveness of Wilkes-Barre's Camera Surveillance System
By: Andy Mehalshick
Updated: January 8, 2013
Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County-Police released photos of a suspect vehicle, a red Pontiac.
They came from private securty cameras, not city owned cameras.
The Wilkes-Barre Police Chief admits the photos of the suspect vehicle did come from privately owned cameras because they were the best shots of the car...
But the chief insists the city's system known as "Hawkeye" did work.
Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County- These are the images released by Wilkes-Barre police in the days after 5 year old Kevin Miller of Dallas was hit and killed on North Street in Wilkes-Barre.
It shows a red Pontiac in the area of the hit and run. The pictures were taken by cameras owned by a Wilkes-Barre businessman and King's College. Several weeks later a suspect car was seized and a person of interest, Thomas Letteer Junior identified.
Some are asking why wasn't the suspect car recorded on a camera --run by the city.-.
The camera is located directly above the hit and run scene.?...Danny Walsh works near the crime scene..
"I don't know just thought it was weird with Wilkes-Barre have invested all the money into cameras that we're not getting pictures of that on the news we see Greco and King's kind of weird."
Police Chief Gerry Dessoye says the Hawkeye system did work and did track the suspect car.
"We tried to pick a shot that gave us best overall image of the car. We thought the average person the public would be able to look at and have beter shot at identifying the vehcle..whatever camera shot it was and it so hapens to be off private cameras.."
Chief Dessoye says cameras don't necessarily pick up an entire intersction but are pointed in a direction that police feel would provide as much coverage for crime prevention.. The camera near the hit and run scene was aimed more toward North Main Street.
"What we feel is the largest area that we can get some useful footage from if an event occurs in that area there is alot of pedestrians"said Chief Dessoye.
They came from private securty cameras, not city owned cameras.
The Wilkes-Barre Police Chief admits the photos of the suspect vehicle did come from privately owned cameras because they were the best shots of the car...
But the chief insists the city's system known as "Hawkeye" did work.
Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County- These are the images released by Wilkes-Barre police in the days after 5 year old Kevin Miller of Dallas was hit and killed on North Street in Wilkes-Barre.
It shows a red Pontiac in the area of the hit and run. The pictures were taken by cameras owned by a Wilkes-Barre businessman and King's College. Several weeks later a suspect car was seized and a person of interest, Thomas Letteer Junior identified.
Some are asking why wasn't the suspect car recorded on a camera --run by the city.-.
The camera is located directly above the hit and run scene.?...Danny Walsh works near the crime scene..
"I don't know just thought it was weird with Wilkes-Barre have invested all the money into cameras that we're not getting pictures of that on the news we see Greco and King's kind of weird."
Police Chief Gerry Dessoye says the Hawkeye system did work and did track the suspect car.
"We tried to pick a shot that gave us best overall image of the car. We thought the average person the public would be able to look at and have beter shot at identifying the vehcle..whatever camera shot it was and it so hapens to be off private cameras.."
Chief Dessoye says cameras don't necessarily pick up an entire intersction but are pointed in a direction that police feel would provide as much coverage for crime prevention.. The camera near the hit and run scene was aimed more toward North Main Street.
"What we feel is the largest area that we can get some useful footage from if an event occurs in that area there is alot of pedestrians"said Chief Dessoye.
