Norris is your one-stop-shop for all things life safety and security. This includes cameras for safety, security and for creating an audit trail. 

It’s hard to argue against the value of cameras in public places to help deter crime, help keep citizens safe, and to help figure what happened should something untoward occur.

However, there is civic turmoil on the rise in Manchester NH, according to the Union Leader, which reports that city officials are preparing to “install a permanent camera in downtown.” 

Some citizens are not happy with the plan.

“As a Manchester resident, I am concerned about the escalating Orwellian police actions that are taking place without any oversight or input from the community,” said one resident concerned with the “Big Brother” aspect she feels the camera with bring to the city. 

This is an important debate. How much is too much? I one camera too much? 

One of Norris’ larger municipal clients uses many more cameras and depends on them regularly, according to Norris Systems Integrator and surveillance expert Jeff Hinckley.

“I believe most cities have public cameras,” Hinckley said. “In larger cities, I do not believe they could live without them.”

Hinckley said that in the city in question, they had “probably 20 remote street PTZ cameras in strategic areas.”

The usefulness of public cameras can be found everywhere. Take, for example, a recent story from Madison, Wisconsin where a 56-year-old sexual predator allegedly sexually harassed and threatened a 14-year-old girl at a bus stop. When she called the police, he denied even approaching and speaking with her. However, authorities were able to catch him in the lie when they checked public camera footage and saw him speaking to her. Rather than having to let the man go due to a lack of evidence, they were able to arrest him. As it turns out, he was already on bail from another sexual offense.

The city of Memphis, which is in the top 5 most violent cities in the US, has many hundreds of public cameras and they help to fight crime and keep people safe. 

What are your thoughts? Contact Norris today to ask about how they can provide you with a camera system to help you keep your employees, students, customers, visitors, or citizens safer.

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What is Norris all about?

Norris, Inc.—a South Portland, Maine-based life-safety and security systems integrator with satellite offices in Bangor, Maine; Lee, New Hampshire; and Burlington, Vermont—was founded nearly 40 years ago by two brothers, Brad and Harty Norris. The brothers remain on the board of directors today and continue to help steer the enterprise toward its goal of advancing life-safety, security, and communications while striving to grow in its status as Northern New England’s leading systems integrator. Norris provides fully integrated life-safety and security solutions, comprising disparate systems including fire alarm, intrusion detection, access control, video surveillance, communications, and emergency notification and total systems integration via the Vigilance Systems Integration Engine and ENS.