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As patrons walk into the South Campus Gateway parking garage, they might get an eerie sense of being watched, and for good reason – cameras are monitoring their every move.
There are approximately 100 cameras at the Gateway, about 50 of which are in the five-level garage. At least one security member is always watching the cameras from the security office on the first floor of the garage, said Gateway general manager Jim Heinen.
The March 30 fatal shooting of a man in the garage has brought attention to Gateway safety. The Gateway, a commercial and residential project located between Chittenden and 9th Ave. along N. High Street, opened in mid-2005 with the hope of revitalizing the downtrodden South Campus area. The slaying of the man, Nevin Cousin Jr., was the second shooting death at the Gateway since its opening. In both cases, video surveillance helped lead to arrests.
Video surveillance is a key part in the Gateway’s attempt to deter crime, Heinen said.
During peak hours on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, at least three security staff members are on duty, along with four special duty Columbus Division of Police officers.
In the security office, the staff has two individual monitors that show smaller video feeds from which they can separately watch all of the Gateway. There are four monitors in the office situated in a square shape that security can focus on. The footage can rotate based on demand for certain sites at different times.
In the daytime, the focus of security is different than it is at night.
“The cars that are in the garage at the day are not the cars that are there at nighttime,” Heinen said. “As we go into nighttime, a whole new crowd of enjoyment comes in.”
Panhandlers can be a problem during the day, and there are “known characters” staff recognize, security member Tim Rohal said. If a panhandler causes a problem, staff in the security office dispatch another security member to confront and ask the person to move along.
At night, the staff frequently focus surveillance on the “alley” between East 9th and East 11th Avenues, Rohal said. The “alley” is the strip where much of the Gateway action occurs at night, flanked by popular venues such as Ugly Tuna Saloona, The Skye Bar and McFadden’s. However, with so much going on in the area, security personnel are trained to investigate anything suspicious, day or night, Heinen said.
“They investigate everything,” Heinen said. “If somebody’s just standing in the area, if it’s 90 degrees in the summertime and someone’s walking around in a trench coat, that’s something that’s out of place.”
If something looks especially suspicious, security uses teamwork to address the problem.
“They’ll actually focus the cameras down there to pay attention to it, and if something looks like it’s really out of the norm, we contact Columbus police immediately,” Heinen said. “Ohio State police reacts because they have access to our cameras as well. It’s very cooperative,” he said.
The cameras are placed in similar areas on the different floors. All are in color and Gateway saves the footage for future use. Some are placed strategically, so staff can see all the different points where something might normally be hidden away, and others are revolving cameras.
There are no signs indicating surveillance in the garage because the Gateway wants the garage to be as comfortable as possible, Heinen said. Walking through the garage, it is difficult to notice the cameras, which are enclosed in dark globes approximately three inches in diameter.
Not all cameras are difficult to notice, however, as there are larger cameras near the exits.
“As you’re leaving the garage, and you’ve got somebody that decides they want to do something stupid, you can actually see the tag or the vehicle that’s leaving the garage,” Heinen said. “So as you’re pulling back out, we know who you are, if you want to just drive through that gate, we’ve got your tag, and we work with Columbus police and we do what we need to do to take care of that situation.” As people drive out of the garage, security can stop the camera, enhance it, and clearly see the tag and state of the license plate, he said.
The Gateway had slightly less than one percent of the crime in Precinct 4, of which the Gateway is a part of, according to a police analysis of crimes reported from June 2006 to January 2008.
“I think we’re pretty effective at what we do; we can’t stop the violence, random stuff, nobody can, but the things that we really can address, we do,” Heinen said.
Tom Knox can be reached at [email protected].
