JACKSONVILLE, Ala. (WBRC) – City leaders in Jacksonville this week approved regulating traffic cameras and who can see and have access to the video.
Jacksonville Police Chief Marcus Wood said these new cameras will make it clear – if you come into Jacksonville, he and his officers will see you.
“Some people don’t like being stalked I guess what they call it, and I can see their point of view but in my opinion, I think it’s the best just in case something bad does happen to you,” said Jesus Rodriguez.
Traffic Cam between lights(reggie kyle)
Back in July, the Jacksonville City Council approved $50,000 for 9 new traffic cameras. A new ordinance was recently approved to charge for the information captured on those cameras.
“What we’ve seen in other neighboring cities is a lot of insurance companies, people who are doing litigation want to get that footage, and so that just allowed us to be able to charge for our employees that has to go and search that, put it on a DVD or thumb drive, whatever the case may be,” said Wood.
Chief Wood said that also means making sure he’s responsible for signing off on who’s allowed to receive that information.
“There’ve been some instances where people been in divorces or people trying to catch their husband or wife cheating, and they want to get that footage. That’s not what this footage is for. It’s for us to have kind of eyes in space where officers can’t be at all the time,” said Wood.
According to Chief Wood, the cameras will not be monitored 24/7, but it will be easy for officers to access the video when needed.
“For whenever there’s a car accident and somebody tries to hit and run, that’s a good way to caught him. You can get a chance to get the guy who hit you,” said Alejandro Gomez.
Chief Wood said he knows these cameras can be controversial, but he said for victims, the cameras help investigators see what they couldn’t.
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