TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0A Spectrum Bay News 9 Watchdog investigation found two-thirds of municipal public pools in the Tampa Bay area are without surveillance cameras.<\/p>\n
In late June, St. Petersburg police received reports about a young man hitting a young girl in the neck while at the Child\u2019s Park pool. The victim\u2019s mother says the boy also threatened her daughter\u2019s life.<\/p>\n
Police are still seeking the suspect in part because investigators don\u2019t know exactly what he looks like. They don\u2019t have surveillance video that could help track down the suspect.<\/p>\n
The City of St. Petersburg confirmed that there are no surveillance cameras at Child\u2019s Park Pool or any of its city-owned pools.<\/p>\n
That surprised Renae Lyons, a concerned parent who said she has been taking her children to St. Petersburg pools for years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt pools, if we have a pool party \u2014 a kid pool party \u2014 I\u2019m in the pool,\u201d Lyons said. \u201cI\u2019m one of the only moms that goes into the pool because I worry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Our Watchdog investigation found St. Petersburg is not alone. Of the 21 local governments across Tampa Bay that operate their own pools or swimming areas, only seven said they have surveillance cameras. You can find a full list below.<\/p>\n
The others either said they do not have cameras or did not respond to questions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s kind of scary,\u201d Lyons said. \u201cI think they should have cameras, especially in the public areas.\u201d<\/p>\n
At Clearwater city pools, staff have access to surveillance cameras. The city invited us to the Ross Norton Recreation Center to show off its system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhenever we have any kind of issues, if it\u2019s a risk management issue, the first thing they always ask us for is the camera footage,\u201d said Dave Scrivener, recreation manager for the city of Clearwater. \u201cAnd it\u2019s nice to have that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Scrivener said Clearwater installed cameras for safety, to monitor lifeguards, and to help keep watch over facilities when no one is around. He said the system allows him to monitor live camera feeds from his phone, and the video is stored for 30 days.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes when we have an accident on the pool, now there\u2019s usually three stories: one story one way, one story another way and then the one in the middle,\u201d Scrivener said. \u201cThe camera helps us get the facts straight.\u201d<\/p>\n
Florida law does not require public pools to have surveillance cameras. Spectrum News also could not find any similar laws anywhere in the country.<\/p>\n
But some parents raised privacy concerns about who would have access to cameras and how the footage would be used.<\/p>\n
In Clearwater, Scrivener said access is limited to managers and higher-level employees.<\/p>\n
Brother Jones, president of the Child\u2019s Park Neighborhood Association, said privacy concerns are real. He said he supports exploring cameras as long as they are implemented appropriately.<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah, we would definitely support a review, just making sure that, number one, it\u2019s not invasive,\u201d Jones said. \u201cAnd if the review says, yes, this is absolutely something that we are able to do in a way that would keep people safe, and be mindful of privacy concerns, then we support that.\u201d<\/p>\n
St. Petersburg officials declined an on-camera interview.<\/p>\n
In an email to the victim\u2019s mother, the city said it relies on lifeguards, writing, \u201cWhile surveillance cameras may assist in reviewing events after an incident occurs, they do not prevent accidents or altercations and cannot replace the constant observation and immediate intervention provided by trained staff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lyons said she believes cameras should be installed in public areas, including for lifeguard accountability.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe not so much where it\u2019s private but, in the public areas, I think they should,\u201d Lyons said.<\/p>\n
As for cost, the City of Clearwater says their cameras are installed for $2,000-$2,500. At their five pools, the City of Clearwater has a 16 cameras.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Municipalities with cameras at their pools or swimming areas<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Clearwater<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Temple Terrace<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lakeland<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Winter Haven<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Haines City<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 New Port Richey<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Manatee County<\/p>\n
Municipalities without cameras, or who didn\u2019t respond to our questions<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St. Petersburg \u2013 no cameras<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Tampa \u2013 no cameras<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pinellas Park \u2013 no response<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Dunedin \u2013 no cameras<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Seminole \u2013 no response<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 St. Pete Beach \u2013 no cameras<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Lake Wales \u2013 no response<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Inverness \u2013 no cameras<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 City of Sarasota \u2013 no cameras<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hillsborough County \u2013 no cameras<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pasco County \u2013 no cameras<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hernando County \u2013 no cameras<\/p>\n
\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Citrus County \u2013 no cameras<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. \u2014\u00a0A Spectrum Bay News 9 Watchdog investigation found two-thirds of municipal public pools in the Tampa…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":346468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[4323,274,63156,276,115,135,137,136,278,63157],"class_list":["post-346467","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-andy-cole","tag-app-top-stories","tag-app-watchdog-investigations","tag-hillsborough-county","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-top-stories","tag-watchdog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346467","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=346467"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/346467\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/346468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=346467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=346467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=346467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}