The Painesville Police Department is looking to expand the Painesville Intersection Crime Camera System in the coming months. The department will use funding from an Ohio Violent Crime Reduction Grant that was awarded earlier this year to add cameras and related equipment to six or seven intersections on the south side of the city, said police Lt. Toby Burgett. He expects that the project will be complete within four months if there are no supply delays. In addition to cameras, Burgett said at a recent City Council meeting that the grant will fund other equipment needed for the PICCS system, like fiber optic cables, power boxes and a data server. “The cameras have proven effective and reliable technology for solving crime,” he said in an email. “The cameras in these locations will help provide safer neighborhoods for our residents.” A March 2023 city news release stated that the cameras are used for “investigations, officer complaints and serious accidents.” The release described Painesville as the first Lake County community with a city-wide camera system. The police department had cameras at 20 intersections as of March 2023, the release stated. It planned at the time to increase that number to 36. “The creation of the intersection camera program has changed the way the Painesville Police Department polices our community,” Burgett said. “The cameras are not only used to solve crimes, and disprove a crime that occurred, but they also provide accountability for our officers serving the community. “They can be used to monitor intersections, enable us to identify problem areas, and allow us to allocate our resources efficiently,” he added. “We are answering continued requests from officers and the community to provide additional cameras to help make this city a safer community.” The camera system is funded by a 2.5-mill levy that city voters passed for five years in 2019 and renewed for five more years in 2023, according to city records. Burgett said that the $145,624.77 state grant will supplement the program’s levy funds. “We appreciate the continued support from our residents,” he said. “Without the levy and levy renewal funds, we would not have been able to undertake or sustain a project of this magnitude. The Painesville Police Department is proud to be a leader in the use of this technology.”