HOULTON, Maine — Houlton police will soon be able to monitor resident and visitor comings and goings at dozens of municipal locations including cemeteries and parks.
Town officials hope to better protect the community with a system of 50 surveillance cameras that are currently being installed, according to Houlton Police Chief and interim Town Manager Tim DeLuca.
The $130,000 initial investment, originally recommended by former town manager Marian Anderson and approved by the town council, was paid for with American Rescue Plan Act funds, DeLuca said.
Houlton, a town of about 5,000, will be one of a few municipalities in the state with town-wide police surveillance. There are no others in Aroostook County and even larger Maine cities like Portland and Bangor do not have surveillance cameras designated for use by police.
DeLuca said the town conducted an in-depth overview of municipal properties and potential vulnerabilities to determine locations for the best town-wide coverage that will include police, fire, EMS, public works, recreation, civic center, airport, parks, gaming fields and cemeteries. He did not give the exact camera locations.
Municipalities around the nation have used ARPA federal dollars to fund community surveillance cameras, according to the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit research and advocacy center. But EPIC warns that once such systems are in place police can access and collect mass surveillance data leading to privacy issues.
DeLuca said the cameras were approved in a public meeting and he believes the community will be receptive.
All cameras, once installed, will be monitored at the communications center at the Houlton Police Department. DeLuca said that gathering data from these cameras will be no different from when police get information from private business surveillance cameras for criminal investigations.
“These will not be used to arrest individuals based solely on the camera footage; however, they will be a tool during an investigation into any criminal activity,“ he said. “Considering we live in a world of continuous video in many locations, I expect positive support from the public considering the objective.”
Caribou Police Chief Michael Gahagan said that police in that city do not use outdoor surveillance cameras and he was a bit surprised to hear that Houlton is using them.
“I don’t know of any community in Aroostook County that has them,” he said. “We rely on businesses and if we need it, we look at their footage.”
Presque Isle has cameras inside municipal buildings, but does not have any outside surveillance, according to interim town manager Lewis Cousins.
Bangor, a city of more than 32,000, does not have surveillance cameras designated for the police department’s use. Bangor Deputy Chief David Bushey said that parks and rec has cameras along the waterfront but the police do not.
Similarly, Portland police do not use surveillance cameras to monitor the community, according to city spokesman Brad Nadeau.
Calais recently approved a city-wide system of police surveillance with 12 cameras. But it is running into a few installation challenges because some locations need access to power or internet.
“It was born out of a lack of police officers,” Calais City Manager Mike Ellis said. “We were down two officers and we thought it might fulfill some security in areas of vandalism.”
Since that time, they have filled their vacant police positions, Ellis said.
Most cities with surveillance cameras have about six cameras per 1,000 people, according to cybersecurity research company Comparitech. Houlton will have
10 cameras per 1,000 people. Comparatively, Detroit has 13 cameras per 1,000 people; Chicago, 11 cameras per 1,000 people; Portland, Oregon, nine cameras per 1,000 people; and Fresno, California eight cameras per 1,000 people.
“Fifty is a conservative number,” DeLuca said.
The camera installation is underway by Swallows Electric and DeLuca said it should be completed in the next week or two.
