Eye in the sky

Criminals beware. The next time you think about committing a crime in Lynbrook, you might be caught on camera. The Lynbrook village board hired LEM Electronics on Aug. 17 to install security cameras at five locations in the village.

Beginning in October, security cameras will be installed near the high school to give police a view of the intersection at Union and Atlantic avenues; at the five corners intersection; by the walk-through on Atlantic Avenue; in the commercial district; on the corner of Sunrise Highway and Broadway; and on Merrick Road near Taco Bell Restaurant.

According to Village Administrator John Giordano, the village went out to bid in June and LEM Electronics were the lowest of 15 bidders. The installation will cost $72,000, Giordano said, and the project will be funded by a bond. He added that the village still has grant applications pending with the federal government to get the funding for the project reimbursed. The village hopes to get the work started in 60 days, Giordano noted, and it will take about a month after that to complete the installation.

The cameras will be on for 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and images received by the cameras will be recorded to a police digital video recorder. The cameras also have a wireless Internet connection, Giordano said. "It will allow patrolmen in their squad cars to log on to the Internet and monitor a particular location in real time," he said.

Mike Schindler, commissioner of communications for the village and director of Lynbrook Television, said the cameras being installed -- halocams — are the cutting edge of video technology. He said that within each camera, there are four smaller cameras that rotate 360 degrees, leaving no blind spots. Officers can log onto the Internet in their squad cars and gain access to the cameras, where they can zoom in and survey a particular location. "What makes it more fantastic is that you can play back the DVR to see what happened and still zoom in," Schindler said. "I was very impressed by the demonstration."

Schindler, who sat in on the negotiations, said these types of cameras are being used all over the globe, as well as in local airports like John F. Kennedy and LaGuardia.

Police Chief Joseph Neve said that some of the locations where cameras are being installed were due to the amount of activity at those spots. Neve said that police have had trouble with fights at the Taco Bell on Merrick Road, plus the Department of Public Works is located right across the street. One of the cameras will face the Long Island Rail Road, he said, where cars and bikes have gotten stolen. The camera by the high school, Neve added, will hopefully cut down on drug activity in the area and keep students safe.

"There are certain areas in the village that we want to watch more closely," Neve said. "If we're on the other side of the village, we can still view the area without being there."

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