APD gains downtown cameras in time for Halloween
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Austin Police have a birds-eye view of Sixth Street just in time for the Halloween weekend.
Crews installed 17 new HALO cameras throughout downtown in places police and businesses say have high levels of crime.
The cameras record around the clock and the footage lasts for seven days.
APD says it will use the cameras to collect evidence, and to hopefully deter crime. Some people, though, have raised concerns about privacy at condos and hotels within camera range.
Police say they're taking that into consideration.
"The officers that work the HALO cameras, that monitor them, all have to have training for what they can and can't constitutionally look at,” Lt. Patrick Cochran with APD said, “We normally, and I say normally, almost never look above what somebody standing on the street could see.”
A total of 26 cameras will eventually be in operation.
The Downtown Alliance paid $250,000 for the cameras. APD is paying for the 24-hour staff required to monitor them.