The Village of Russell Gardens board of trustees announced on Thursday that they will be installing surveillance cameras in four village locations, and are considering placing cameras at the seven entrances into the village.
“One of the trustees said, since we’re going to put the cameras in, let’s see how much it would cost if we did all the entrances,” Mayor Steve Kirschner said. “That’s all. Since he was coming in anyway to give us an estimate, we said can you give us an estimate for that. It doesn’t mean we’re doing it.”
At last month’s board meeting, the village held a public hearing on the possible installation of 24/7 surveillance cameras after residents alerted the board of unusual activities taking place around the village.
Kirschner said the village received prices from FM:Systems for camera installation and will go forward with the proposal.
A camera will be placed in four locations: on the corner of Tain Drive and Wensley Drive facing towards the Joyce Cohn Path, the south side of Clent Road at the border with Thomaston across from the Creek Park entrance, on Vivian Lane facing towards the village park, and on Melbourne Road by the stairs to the Creek Park entrance.
While there were no break-ins, robberies, or muggings reported to the village, Kirschner said the cameras would deter the possible vandalism and nefarious conduct that residents reported seeing.
He added that installation for the four cameras would cost the village somewhere between $20-25,000, and another $30-35,000 should they place cameras at the village entrances.
“Right now, the village is not prepared to put that in unless the residents think that would be a good law or a good expenditure of funds,” Kirschner said about the entrance cameras. “It would be able to monitor every car that came in and see every license plate.”
Trustee Martin Adickman added that the software needed for cameras to identify license plate numbers would have an additional cost to the installation fees.
Kirschner said the only other village in Great Neck to install cameras at their village entrances was Kings Point.
Camera installation was expected to already begin, but Kirschner said that due to inclement weather, the electrician could not work on the cameras but will do so once the weather clears up.
The next board meeting is scheduled for Nov. 5.
