Mississippi Police Install Surveillance Cameras to Deter Crime

Officials hope to install 50 security cameras in Vicksburg before the year’s end, with Mayor George Flaggs aiming to get 10 installed before the holiday season fully kicks off.

• By Jessica Davis
• Nov 14, 2018

Strategically placed cameras around Vicksburg, Mississippi, are helping the city keep citizens safe and control crime.

Officials hope to install 50 security cameras in Vicksburg before the year’s end, with Mayor George Flaggs aiming to get 10 installed before the holiday season fully kicks off.

"They're working. They're helping us solve crime, they're helping identify some of the hotspots. We've got them in some of the hotspots area, now it has diminished the crime in those areas," Mayor George Flaggs said.

Flaggs hopes the cameras will help deter criminals, with particular plans to place the surveillance equipment in parking garages that have begun to experience graffiti activity.

"I want the criminals to know we're watching,” Flaggs said. “I want the city employees in house to know we're expecting them to do their job, and I want the people in the streets to know that we're watching the traffic on the streets. We want to be the big brother to the City of Vicksburg from my office.”

Flaggs wants to equip law enforcement with the ability to prevent crime as well as combat it.

"The mobile cameras is a camera where you locate it on a stand and you can move it around, and it has a telescope on it and you can move it up and down, and you can watch crime,” Flaggs said. “A lot of times they use it for banquets and big crowds […] We're going to be using it for our community.”

City officials are also working on drone flight certification as part of their crime reduction efforts.