NYC Increasing Security Camera Surveillance

The Domain Awareness System, known as “the dashboard,” instantaneously mines data from the NYPD’s vast collection of arrest records, 911 calls, more than 3,000 security cameras city-wide, license plate readers and portable radiation detectors and aggregates it into a user-friendly, readable form, seen in this Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2013 file photo. (Mary Altaffer/AP Photo)

NEW YORK—Requests for long-awaited security cameras are finally being approved for installation around the city. 

The Argus cameras, which the City Council has been appropriating capital funds to for a few years, are for video surveillance. The cameras are part of the Domain Awareness System.

Of the requests made by City Council members for their districts, current Argus camera funding levels are at $10.9 million, according to the City Council.

A March, 2013 City Council budget hearing revealed the almost $11 million expenditure for the cameras breaks down to about $17,000 per camera. There will be two cameras for most of the 321 installations for a total of 640 cameras. 

The installations are part of a three-year plan to install cameras throughout the city, in areas with a need for crime and counterterrorism monitoring.

City Council Member Domenic M. Recchia, Jr. managed to secure $400,000 in camera funding for Fiscal Year 2013, for cameras in South Brooklyn. There are already seven cameras in his district.

Several will be installed on 86th Street between 20th and 25th Avenue, and others on Neptune Avenue, Mermaid Avenue, Kings Highway, and other areas. 

City Council Member Vincent Gentile has also managed to secure funding for three cameras.