City purchasing new equipment to improve community safety

Oct 11, 2018 | 9:00 AM

The City of North Battleford will purchase some new equipment to help improve safety in the community.

Council approved reallocating $60,160 in total from the city’s safety budget to buy a new Miovision Traffic Link Detection system and Ver-Mac Radar Sign, at Tuesday’s meeting. 

The items meet the Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) mandate.

Mayor Ryan Bater said the recommendation came from the CPTED review committee as well as from an application from the city’s Planning and Development department.  

“The budget items are still staying within the CPTED realm,” Bater said. “These were identified as two projects that could assist law enforcement in the community. There are a lot of benefits to the community. We will expect them to be introduced this fall.”

He said the funds for this project are a surplus from last year’s budget.

The Miovision Traffic Link Detection Package was described as a video-based application that studies vehicle and pedestrian traffic. As part of the system, one camera would be placed at an intersection that reads all lanes and detects traffic immediately.

City planner Ryan Mackrell said in his submitted report the system can provide the city with a complete picture of traffic networks, looking at various intersections in the city. The system also has a live-feed that can be monitored. It can be used for analyzing collisions as well as to improve public safety.

He said the system’s live-feed can be archived for a minimum of seven days, which can be used to review safety incidents, such as for locating missing people and vehicles, as an example, as well as for reviewing accidents.

The other item, a Ver-Mac Trailer Radar sign, will be used for monitoring vehicle speeds. The portable device can automatically take pictures and videos of speeding vehicles as well as their licence plates.

Mackrell’s report indicated these items are not specifically meant to prevent crime but for investigative purposes and to assist the RCMP and community safety officers in their work.

 

angela.brown@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow