AMSTERDAM, N.Y. (NEWS10) — A Capital Region city is taking action after two shooting incidents earlier this year rocked the municipality. The City of Amsterdam will be installing cameras at two of its parks with advanced AI technology to help people feel safe. 

“It’s another tool we would use to help us do our job better,” said Lieutenant Joe Spencer with the Amsterdam Police Department.  He says there will be around a dozen new cameras placed at Veterans Park, where there were two shootings over the summer, and Shuttleworth Park, the scene of vandalism several months ago.

But these aren’t your ordinary cameras. “It will track movement and we will be able to search for specific items that the artificial intelligence will pick up.” Spencer says the technology will help officers catch criminals. “So, let’s say we had a specific vehicle description or specific clothing description for someone we wanted to talk to in the park. We could search it by that. So, you can search for black car, blue car, red shirt, green shirt. Things of that nature and it’s able to search for that and bring up what it believes you’re looking for.”

Spencer adds it’s only a small part of the investigative process and says, “Any information, any footage or still shots that are taken from this surveillance system still has to be corroborated with credible investigative leads. So, all that information has to be backed up.”

1st Ward Alderwoman Kelly Quist-Demars says that while the cameras are needed and welcomed, she would like to see more. “This is just the first phase. There’s another park that I would really love to see get a set of eyes on it because it’s constantly vandalized.”

The cameras will be installed by Shepard Communication and Security for $53,000. The city is paying for it with money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). They hope those ARPA funds will be reimbursed.  The Folks in Amsterdam can expect the new cameras to start going up in the spring of 2024.