At its meeting last week, the Brighton City Council approved a bid for the video camera surveillance package by Absolute Sales International totaling just under $42,000.

A second bid, by Knight Watch, was rejected because it did not meet the minimum specifications outlined in the bidding process. Police Chief Rob Bradford says the system currently in use is about 10 years old and very “antiquated”.

Bradford says the new system will allow the police dept to convert its existing system from analog to digital. Also, seven new video cameras will be installed that are similar to the ones in the Imagination Station playground area, which are just one year old. Bradford also says purchase of the new cameras will allow the department to expand its coverage of the downtown area.

The funds for the new system will come out of the 38-hundredths-of-a-mill (.0038) police dept. millage previously approved by the voters. Bradford adds that the department will continue to increase the number of surveillance cameras in the downtown area in the next couple of years, also using funds from the voter-approved millage. (TT)