Graceada Park getting electronic eyes to keep watch for crime

Electronic eyes are coming soon to Modesto’s Graceada Park, one of the city’s crown jewels.

Work has begun on installing four surveillance cameras: one at the pavilion, one by Mancini Bowl, and two on a streetlight near the bathrooms, with one camera trained on the entrances and the other capable of tilting, zooming and panning.

The project is a partnership among Rank Investigations and Protection, the College Area Neighborhood Alliance and the city. The cameras will provide a live feed to Rank Investigations and the Police Department’s real-time crime center. Modesto contracts with Rank to patrol city parks.

The cameras come as college-area residents have complained of drinking, drug use and sales, and other bad behavior in Graceada and nearby Enslen parks as well as crime in their neighborhood. They also come as Modesto is wrestling with what to do about its homeless, especially those who live and sleep in city parks.

One homeless couple in Graceada’s pavilion said the cameras make sense if they are used to deter and catch criminals but not if they are used to target the homeless.

“They want to watch the homeless and see what we are up to,” said Cheryl Barnes with her husband, John, at her side. “It doesn’t matter what we are doing. They will turn it into whatever they want it to be.”

Councilwoman Kristi Ah You – who lives in the college area – said that is not the intent.

“This is a way to reduce crime in our parks so our families can enjoy our parks again,” she said. “This is not to target you if you are a homeless person just sitting in the park. We are concerned with lawless individuals involved in criminal behavior.”

But she acknowledged it is a crime to camp in a city park and the city does not have enough emergency shelter for its homeless, let alone permanent housing. A count of the homeless last year turned up 1,051 in Modesto, but the Modesto Gospel Mission and the Salvation Army have 235 emergency shelter beds between them.

Ah You reiterated her support for letting the homeless camp in Beard Brook Park, which is an unofficial campsite for the homeless, until the police clear them out. She said the homeless need a place of their own and Beard Brook could be that place until permanent solutions are found. She said the city could provide security to make sure problems are kept in check. But she has not been able to gain support from other city officials.

“We just have to come up with something,” she said. “I don’t know what that something is, but it needs to have some dignity to it. All of us are people. There are people experiencing homelessness, people experiencing drug addiction, but the bottom line is they are still people.”

Modesto and Stanislaus County are working through the county’s Focus on Prevention initiative to open a one-stop service center for the homeless and a 40-bed low-barrier shelter that, unlike a traditional homeless shelter, allows couples and pets. But both projects are taking longer than expected.

Steve Rank – who owns Rank Investigations and Protection – offered to install the cameras at a September meeting of the College Area Neighborhood Alliance, which drew more than 100 residents as well as top city and police officials to discuss the bad and criminal behavior occurring in Graceada and Enslen parks.

Rank Investigations is providing $7,000 toward the $11,000 cost of the cameras. The College Area Neighborhood Alliance raised the rest from residents and businesses. Modesto is helping with the project, including swapping out a light pole near the park bathrooms with a streetlight, which will provide more illumination at night.

Steve Rank said the cameras could be operating within a week, though a city official said the project could take more time because rain is in the forecast for next week.

Cameras in public places are not new for Modesto. The city has had cameras downtown and at its Transit Center for years. The cameras feed into the real-time crime center. Assistant police Chief Rick Armendariz said the police have mobile camera systems at three city parks: Enslen, Mellis and Garrison. The systems also feed into the crime center, and officers can get live feeds on their department-issued smartphones and hand-held devices.

Armendariz said the Police Department would like to have more cameras, but needs to secure the funding. He said the department is looking at grants and forming more partnerships modeled on what is taking place at Graceada.

This story was originally published January 27, 2017 at 4:27 PM with the headline "Graceada Park getting electronic eyes to keep watch for crime."