The Knoxville Police Department's real-time information center is poised to add 10 more surveillance cameras to monitor Market Square after the Knoxville City Council accepted a grant from the Downtown Knoxville Alliance.
The Downtown Knoxville Alliance board still must vote whether to give $31,069.84 to KPD. Noel said the business alliance has worked with KPD to get cameras up in Market Square for years, so the vote should go in KPD's favor. Someone just needed to "go first," he said.
Councilmember Matthew DeBardelaben, who represents northeast Knoxville, served on the alliance's board and said he was part of the conversation between the alliance and KPD as a private citizen. He said the cameras have been a longtime coming.
"It serves businesses,
it serves people who come downtown to play and work and it serves residents," DeBardelaben said. "All three interests asked for these things. This has been asked by residents, visitors and neighbors who come to Market Square. I really appreciate that the cameras are part of a closed system so they cannot be accessed without authorization. I appreciate that during a protest they create less of a police pretense. They can watch from afar."
Noel did not say exactly how many cameras the downtown alliance plans to purchase or where exactly they will go. He said three or four will go inside Market Square, two will go on Market Street facing Krutch Park and one will go on Gay Street facing toward Market Square.
The cameras for Market Square are different from the ones being considered by the Knox County Sheriff's Office. The city cameras are similar to standard closed-circuit security cameras. They are not equipped with AI facial recognition technology.
They also are different from license plate readers, which take still images.
Councilmember Amelia Parker, who represents the whole city, is the only councilmember who voted against the Market Square cameras. Parker raised concerns about infringing on the privacy of protestors in Market Square and the cameras being used to track people KPD deems suspicious rather than to investigate crimes.
Allie Feinberg is the politics reporter for Knox News. Email: allie.feinberg@knoxnews.com; Reddit: u/KnoxNewsAllie
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: New cameras could help Knoxville police monitor Market Square from afar
