Luzerne County District Attorney Statement on Camera System
By: Eyewitness News
Updated: January 8, 2013
Police released photos of a suspect vehicle, a red Pontiac.
They came from private security cameras, not city owned cameras. This afternoon D.A. Stefanie Salavantis released a statement on the Hawkeye Camera System.
After fielding dozens of calls focused solely on the Wilkes-Barre camera system, District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said that she is disheartened that the media seems to have drifted its focus away from the tragic death of Kevin Miller to an attack on the set up of the cameras. "Obviously, no one could predict the exact location of where crimes will occur, she said." The District Attorney commented that it was not surprising, without the benefit of hindsight, that a camera would be directed toward a major artery and intersection and not toward the middle of this road where the hit-and-run occurred. "I can say that the camera system was recently instrumental in two major Wilkes-Barre cases. In this case, the camera located near the scene of the incident, which was properly functioning, along with other Wilkes-Barre cameras, provided valuable photos which led to the seizure of the vehicle being investigated. Also, in the equally-tragic death of Tyler Winstead, the camera system was used to disprove the existence of the phantom drive-by vehicle." District Attorney Salavantis reiterated, "My prayers and thoughts remain with the Miller family, and I want to assure the public that all possible resources are being dedicated to the investigation and to bringing the perpetrator to justice."

