Officials in Etna plan to use a $100,000 federal grant to install video cameras on the borough's business district and main thoroughfare, placing most of the entrance and exit points under surveillance.
"It's not just for us. Anything that happens, even in Waterworks (shopping center) and it comes down (Route) 28, hopefully, we'll be able to pick it up with one of our cameras," Etna police Chief William Grover said.
The system will include 19 cameras in eight clusters, or hub stations, mostly on streetlights near routes 8 and 28, and a recording system at the police station, borough Manager Mary Ellen Ramage said.
The police department received money from the Department of Justice's Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and designated streets that intersect Butler Street for the cameras: Washington, Isabella, Freeport and Crescent streets and Grant Avenue.
Etna's crime rate dropped over the past few years and its burglary rate is less than those of neighboring Shaler and Sharpsburg, Detective Tim Rodman said.
Officials hope the cameras will further deter crime and allow police to work with officers in other municipalities to solve crimes.
"The ultimate scope of the project is a lot bigger than what we were awarded," Rodman said.
Three cameras exist at a playground behind the police station on Pine Street and six are in place at the municipal building. Those were installed in 2009, Grover said.
"It's just becoming more and more commonplace," Ramage said.
The state Department of Community and Economic Development provided $10,000 for those nine cameras and Global Access Control Systems, the Etna company that did the work, provided $4,000, Grover said.
The borough plans to award a contract for the new project at its May 15 meeting and the work could start by mid-June, Ramage said.
The grant will cover most, if not all, of the work, she said. The borough would pay any balance.
