IMPD adds third public safety camera along Washington St in three months

INDIANAPOLIS — IMPD has a new public safety camera downtown to help address crime or deter it altogether. 

The technology is up and running at the intersection of W Washington Street and N Illinois Street. It’s the third camera to be installed along Washington Street in the last three months. 

“We’ve had a lot of success with our cameras, using them with juvenile mitigation or violence crime reduction efforts to identify those people involved in crimes, and we’ve been able to make arrests because the cameras are there,” IMPD Downtown District Commander Shane Foley said. “If the cameras weren’t there, there’s certain situations we would not be able to make arrests.”

The other intersections that had cameras installed back in March previously had mobile surveillance units in place, but that wasn’t true for the Illinois Street location.

“Washington and Illinois is one of the most travelled parts of downtown and it’s important to have this tool to monitor activity,” Foley said. “We didn’t have a camera at this location at all, so that really emphasizes the importance of this location being added.”

The streams from the cameras are monitored by IMPD’s real-time crime center, but also by officers on the streets. The video can alert officers to incidents before 911 is even called.

“We have five different camera angles, and as you can see here, this can be used for traffic investigations,” Foley said while showing the stream from inside of his car. “If there was a crash or a pedestrian struck, this might help identify a vehicle involved in that incident.”

The Conrad Hotel on the corner paid to put the camera in place, an investment General Manager Ryan Fitzgerald hopes helps officers better secure the area.

”All the men and women that are down here making the city safe, it’s really important to us and we just wanted an opportunity to support that,” Fitzgerald said. “They do all the hard work, so anything we can do to support that effort is in the interest of all of our residents, our team members and our guests.”

Video from the cameras that don’t show criminal activity is thrown out after 30 days. IMPD is hopeful to further secure community partnerships to fund more cameras in the future.

“Ultimately, the goal of these cameras is to make downtown a safer place for people to work, live and visit,” Foley said.