Winchester agrees to purchases for Police Dept.

By Editor | October 11, 2023 |

By Carmen Ensinger

Winchester City Council agreed to several purchases for the police department at the Oct. 4 City Council meeting, including night-vision cameras that can be moved from location to location and a generator for the police department.

“I am trying not to waste money and do what is in the best interest of the people of this community,” Winchester Police Chief Steve Doolin said. “The downtown area (Square) – there aren’t a lot of problems here and while it would be nice to have them here during the carnival they really aren’t needed up here all the time.”

The solution is to get cameras that can be moved from one location to another location where problems are occurring.

“There are some people who are having problems and in order to put them at ease, it would be nice to have cameras to put in place,” Doolin said. “The solution is to have portable cameras. There isn’t always going to be wifi available so they would have to be cellular.”

Doolin looked into cameras that would be solar powered so they wouldn’t have to worry about recharging the batteries.

“The ones I’ve looked into require very little light to recharge, maybe two hours a day and the charge lasts four or five days without any light at all,” he said. “These cameras will allow us to set up a zone and if there is movement within this zone it will send an alert to our phone.”

Doolin said he would like to purchase four of these cameras at a cost of $400 to $500 each and that there would be a $10 per month cellular connectivity fee per camera.

“I know it is an expense, but it will be like having the help that I don’t have,” he said. “There are lots of places that I would like to sit and watch, but I can’t be everywhere. Plus, they are night vision and work under very low light.”

The council agreed to the purchase of four of the cameras.

Doolin also presented last month the need for a new generator at the police department. The current generator is very unreliable. The newer models he looked into are air cooled and the current one is water cooled.

“The one I looked into is the same size, 26,000 watts and would run the entire building, “Doolin said. “The most important thing we need it for is when the power goes out, so does our phone system. Plus, the fire department has to physically climb on top of the truck to get the doors open.”

Doolin looked into two different companies and got cost estimates and while a company in Springfield was a bit cheaper, they would not service the unit should anything go wrong. Therefore, he suggested going with Bigelows, who will come to Winchester and service it should anything go wrong.

The cost from Bigelow’s is a little over $10,000 for the generator, but Utility Supervisor John Simmons asked if a line could be ran to the machine shed so a light could be used there. The council made a motion for up $11,000 for the purchase of the generator and running an electric line.

Doolin also reported that he had found another part time officer willing to come on board to help the city staffing problems. A.J. McAdams, who is currently a Sergeant with the city of Roodhouse is willing to work part time for the city.