Council Approves Security Camera Purchase for Police Department

Citing potential safety issues, Hellertown Borough Council Monday night approved spending approximately $1,200 to purchase two exterior surveillance cameras for the police department, which currently has none.

Police Chief Robert Shupp cited a recent incident in which Chihuahua puppies were abandoned on the department’s doorstep and then had to be rushed to a local animal hospital in asking for the funds, which were not budgeted for this year and will come from the borough’s reserve fund.

The borough will also pay a $7 monthly maintenance fee for the cameras to cover the cost of repairs should they malfunction.

Shupp noted that the police vehicles parked in the lot next to the department will be better safeguarded with a camera pointed at them.

The other camera will be installed outside the department’s entrance on the Water Street side of the Borough Hall building.

As of now, if someone knocks on that door an officer has to go look through the peephole in it in order to see who is standing there, he said.

The department does have surveillance cameras for its holding cell and interview room.

“They’ve been asking for cameras for a while,” Mayor David Heintzelman said of the police department, which he oversees.

“I think it is a necessary safety thing,” councilman Herb Payung said of the eyes in the sky.

Council voted unanimously to approve the purchase of the two cameras.