Cleveland Police hope to put up more cameras proven to aid in solving crimes

CLEVELAND, Ohio (WOIO) - Cameras have proven to give crucial evidence to Cleveland Police when solving crimes.

Police are hoping to secure funding from the city council to install additional cameras to solve and possibly prevent crimes.

Surveillance cameras were critical in solving the recent murder of off duty Cleveland police officer Shane Bartek on New Years Eve.

“You come to the realization how many crimes have been solved in this city because of cameras,” Councilman Michael Polensek said. “Whether it be city cameras or private cameras. I am reminded about this now because of the case that’s before us now. The cameras that were in the parking lot where officer Bartek lived and how critical those cameras were in identifying his assailant.”

These cameras give a real time view of intersections including multiple angles to help investigators.

“If it’s the event recreation, that’s going to give you all four angles of that intersection, so you’ll be able to see if that car turned left, turned right, what was it doing leading up to that intersection,” Larry Jones with the City of Cleveland said. “Any interactions and that’s been very helpful in event recreation and investigations.”

19 News looked at the numbers and the vast majority of these cameras are working.

Cleveland’s Department of Public Safety reported, as of July, 62 of the 1,513 cameras across the city are in “down” status. That’s about 4% of the system.

24 out of 62 down due to construction
17 out of 62 are currently being refreshed with new equipment
6 out of 62 are down due to power issues
2 out of 62 are down due to camera is end of life
4 out of 62 are down and being serviced
9 out of 62 are new tickets for service

Police and the city want to make sure these are up and running so safety isn’t an issue.

“It’s a deterrent and it’s also to apprehend people who have been involved in violent crime in our city,” Polensek said.

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