Would more cameras keep people safer in Palm Springs?

Closed circuit t.v. cameras have been used by the city of Palm Springs for years now to help effectively police it’s downtown area and keep people safe from crime.

But you won’t find those cameras in the city’s parking structure off Baristo Road at the Corner of Indian Canyon.

The structure has seen shootings, stabbings and other crimes over the years including the officer-involved shooting of Marine Corp. Allan “AJ” DeVillena in November of 2012.

A civil rights lawsuit filed by DeVillena’s family against the city was later settled for $2.57 million dollars.

A stabbing occurred in the lot following a bar fight in September that began in the neighboring Village Pub.

There was also a shooting in the struture April 23. One man was hospitalized, two suspects escaped.

“I don’t like it,” said Aleesha Brooks of La Quinta. “I think there should be because it’s a dark alley over there and anything can happen,” Brooks added.

The area is dimly lit, and there are many dark places where things can and do happen out of sight.

“There’s definitely some sketchy characters,” said Kevin Carlisle of Palm Springs. “But on the whole I feel safe,” said Carlisle.

News Channel 3 made a records request to the city of Palm Springs asking for the number of police reports taken there and arrests made. Also the number of times police have been called there over the past 5 1/2 years.

The numbers show 130 investigations, 33 arrests and 236 calls to police for 275 South Indian Canyon.

Among them calls for assaults, robberies, gunfire, vandalism DUI and public intoxication also grand theft.

Some think adding security cameras to the structure would make people safer. Police say, maybe, but maybe not.

“That’s where the tourists come. That’s where most people come,” said Sergeant William Hutchinson of the Palm Springs Police Department. Hutchinson added, “There’s a lot of bars in that area, a lot of night life activity. So you’re always going to see a higher volume of calls in that region specifically because of that.”

Hutchinson says his department doesn’t view the parking structure here as troubled. It’s no different than the rest of the very busy downtown area where such calls are more common.

But surveillance cameras dot the downtown area, each capable of panning and zooming tight enough to read a license plate or capture an image of a possible suspect.

Monitors inside the city’s police dispatch center typically are not monitored unless an incident is underway.

Then dispatchers have used them to help catch suspects and document the scene.

Hutchinson said, “It’s a benefit. It’s something we can at least take a look at and give us some kind of input as to what occurred in that area and give us even information on possible suspects.”

Many communities have turned to cameras, sometimes controversial, but also seen as practical solutions to monitor public areas and to deter crime.

The city responded to our our News Channel 3 I-Team records request saying the cameras downtown are recorded, and the video is maintained for one year. The recordings are automatically purged after one year.

Could more cameras here be a good use for Measure J funds, the sales tax effort that brought in 2.1 million in the 2014– 2015 fiscal year?

And would more cameras in the structure help?

Hutchinson said, “If it’s a planned event maybe, but a crime of opportunity ‘no.’ So cameras safer? Not necessarily. But to assist us and to provide us with more information to get a jump start on our investigation, ‘yes.'”

That’s something residents and city leaders would need to decide if it’s important enough.