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ELKINS -- The City of Elkins is currently accepting bids for the implementation of a new public safety camera system, including the installation of 75 street cameras.
According to the bid letting announcement, "this project includes the furnishing, installation, management, analytics, and training for a public safety camera system that will cover all ingress/egress routes, major intersections, and other areas of interest within the City of Elkins. The system will be expected to provide advanced license plate reader and facial recognition technology."
Bids will be accepted until 11 a.m. March 1.
"Bids will be due at the Elkins Police Department and will be opened and publicly read aloud at that time," the announcement states." No pre-bid meeting will be held."
"Interviews of qualified bidders may be conducted prior to the awarding of a contract," according to the announcement.
Elkins Police Chief Travis Bennett has said the camera installation will proceed in three phases. In the first phase, cameras will be placed at all major entrance and exit points to the city, such as the Beverly Pike, Harrison Avenue, North Randolph Avenue, and U.S. Route 33.
In the second phase, cameras will be placed at all major intersections and points of interest throughout the city.
In the third and final phase, cameras will be placed in all city parks.
In November, Elkins City Council voted to accept $950,000 in federal funding, in part for law enforcement technology upgrades, including the camera system. The funding comes from a U.S. Department of Justice Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant.
According to a previous City of Elkins press release, similar camera systems are already in use in multiple West Virginia cities, including Bridgeport, Clarksburg, Morgantown and Parkersburg.
Bennett said camera placement is being carefully considered to balance privacy and public safety.
"We are not planning to place any cameras in primarily residential neighborhoods," Bennett said in the release. "We simply want to be able to look back at traffic movements and incidents occurring along the city's major rights of way. There is no intention to try to capture activities on private property."