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APD beefs up safety with cameras on city streets

ATLANTA — The Atlanta Police Department tells Channel 2 Action News a vote by City Council late Monday afternoon will help double the amount of eyes on the street thanks to federal dollars.

Officials said 112 new cameras will cost the federal government just over $2 million and will be added mostly to downtown streets in the first wave of implementation.

The bulk of the cameras, 92, will be added throughout downtown and tied into the existing video integration system. The other 20 cameras will be sprinkled throughout the city.

Atlanta council member Michael Bond said he believes the cameras will have a real impact.

"It will make us a safer city. Criminals don't like to be on camera, so the cameras will have an impact," Bond said.

Over the last two years, city leaders and Atlanta Police Department command staff have been working to build the camera network to protect busy areas of the city.

Even now, there's small group of trained officers watching cameras inside the city 911 center. The city's hope over the next few years is to eventually tie in hundreds of cameras across the city to create a network to help stop crime and alert police of what's going on.