ALTON -- Cameras inside 15 new black and white domes unobtrusively, silently "observe" everyday life at three Alton Housing Authority complexes.

The durable, plastic covers more resemble oversized air fresheners or odd Christmas tree ornaments as they hang stationary from utility poles. Only the hidden camera lenses move, their direction of aim undetectable to those who pass underneath.

Not only are they keeping track of "goings-on," routine or otherwise, the ever-present cameras have a live feed to monitors at the Alton Law Enforcement Center command center and AHA administrative offices.

Last week, Capt. Scott Waldrup of the Alton Police Department demonstrated how police check on common areas of Alton Acres, Joesting Terrace and Oakwood Estates. The Pelco brand digital surveillance cameras, though, do not "look" inside the apartments and are not installed at Alton Manor, whose residents are disabled or elderly.

Sitting in front of the computer monitor, Waldrup sees 16 "squares," 15 with live views from the cameras and the 16th blank. Waldrup uses the computer mouse to move a cursor, which guides the camera to move in a particular direction. He clicks on some crosshairs to zero in on an area, then zooms in for even more detail.

The camera is so powerful, one can see the faraway cigarette a woman is holding as she chats with a group of people sitting on lawn chairs behind an apartment in Oakwood.

"The other day, we saw a guy sitting on a car, eating a cheeseburger, and you could tell what kind of soda he had. These cameras are pretty good, especially during the day. The quality of video and surveillance is phenomenal."

In the morning, police can review pictures that the cameras recorded on the computer hard drive during the night if they get a report of an incident.

The system proved helpful about 2 a.m. Oct. 23, when cameras recorded a car crash, a subsequent argument and the shooting of a man in the 600 block of Joesting Avenue. The man did not suffer serious injury, and authorities charged a 22-year-old with aggravated battery with a firearm and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.

"We got everything in an attempted murder case; that shows its worth," Waldrup said. "The great thing is, if we get a call for a fight, we can see what is going on."

Hayes said the cameras also would be useful during undercover drug buys, because police in the command center can watch and record the transaction, which allows backup officers to stay farther away.

"The camera can see the undercover officer, so we won’t have police down there ‘burning’ the deal; we can have them (waiting) farther away," he said. "We also can train the camera on the (residence) door of the suspect, so we’ll know when he’s home."

Six years ago, the AHA had 26 surveillance cameras installed, but they were of poor quality, never worked properly, couldn’t "pan" or "zoom" and weren’t connected to the Police Department. The AHA put those cameras in storage. That system had cost $58,000.

"We will put them up eventually where we need single cameras, by a door, etc., where we don’t need to pan or zoom," Brown said last summer. "They are static cameras."

In the new system, the daytime images are in color, but when the light dims at dusk, the cameras switch to black and white shots. At times, there is a slight, few seconds’ delay in transmission. Also, the pictures can appear jerky, but those movements can be reduced when the computer user gains experience.

Posted some 16 to 18 feet up on utility poles, the units that workers from Security Alarm Corp. of Salem, Ill., began putting up this summer already are part of the scenery in the complexes.

However, the cameras have been functioning for only a few weeks, slowed by lightning damage. And "glitches" occur occasionally because of the high-speed cable digital service that feeds the images to the monitors.

"If there is a problem at one of our developments, and if the cameras catch the incident, it allows us to go back and verify what happened," Brown said. AHA workers can see whether non-residents are loitering about, and Brown can use the recordings to tell what time remodeling contractors show up for work on the units.

Brown worked with police in determining the best placement of the cameras. The city’s Forestry Division trimmed or removed trees blocking camera views, and one more tree is slated to come down in Joesting.

Each of the three complexes’ community centers has a secure area inside that stores a recorder, which resembles a computer and holds digital images up to 21 days. The images can be stored indefinitely if saved on a disk.

So far, Waldrup said, no one has tried to disable or vandalize the protective camera domes. If someone does damage one of the units, he said it is likely one of the other cameras would record the culprit’s actions.

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