By Bonnie Culverhouse
As far as thefts are concerned, the City of Minden fared pretty well during a city-wide outage last Thursday night.
Now that power has been restored, Minden Police Chief Jared McIver would like to see more businesses and citizens invest in security cameras inside and outside.
“I wish I could encourage all business owners in the city – if they have cameras if they would check them once monthly to make sure they are working correctly and recording,” he said. “If they don’t have it, could they please get camera systems.
McIver said usually when break-ins and burglaries occur, business owners will say their cameras don’t work.
“Or they say they have been talking about getting cameras, but they don’t have them yet,” he added.
Camera equipment can go a long way in helping law enforcement catch criminals and catch them quickly. McIver said the same goes for residences.
“Camera systems from other businesses, even down the road, may pick up a vehicle leaving a scene or a person walking by,” he said. “The more cameras, the more angles and the more eyes we have, the better our chances of catching the criminals.”
The chief’s dream is to be able to access all business cameras from the police department.
“That may be something in the future,” he said. “I talked to another chief the other day who’s able to monitor more than 90 cameras around the city, and it’s been a huge help with crime.”
