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Macon mayor proposes $700K downtown security camera system

Additional systems would go in Carolyn Crayton Park and along the Riverwalk.

MACON, Ga. — Soon, parts of Macon may welcome some permanent new high-tech neighbors.

About $700,000 worth of security cameras could be on the way if the Macon-Bibb commission approves them. Cameras are everywhere these days. 

They're in stores, restaurants and even your doctor's office. Soon, they could be all over downtown Macon.

"I don't really think too much about it. I guess it's like everybody else when you wake up, and it's 20 degrees outside, and you're like, 'Eh.,'" said Isaiah Thompson, who works at Baldino's Subs in downtown Macon.

When he gets up for work in the morning, Thompson's biggest worry is the weather. He just got to Macon a few months ago. So crime isn't really on his radar.

"Being here about this short amount of time, I haven't seen too much personally. Or at least nothing major," Thompson said.

Crime does have the attention of Macon Mayor Lester Miller. According to his proposal for the camera system, part of the interest comes from 'high-profile' crimes downtown.

In October, four were shot in a drive-by shooting near Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Cherry Street. In the following weeks, downtown bartenders approached the county commission asking for more deputy presence in the area.

Thompson says he's not sure the cameras are needed but thinks they could help.

"The other day, I had a friend come back inside the store. He told me he almost got hit by a car," Thompson said. "So, if the security cameras can catch it, like if somebody did happen to get hit, then they can kind of see what happened."

Above all, Thompson thinks it's best to have it now and not need it than to need it and not have it at all. Commissioners will take their first vote Tuesday morning at their committee meeting. After that, they'll have a second vote to make it all final.

Additional camera systems would go along the Riverwalk and in Carolyn Crayton Park. LaGrange-based AdaptToSolve, Inc. would supply the cameras. 

The company will present its product to commissioners tomorrow morning before they vote.

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