North Little Rock police recently began using a mobile surveillance tower it acquired for free through a federal surplus equipment program.
Police spokesman Sgt. Brian Dedrick said the agency deployed a FLIR Systems Skywatch Frontier surveillance tower at retail locations in the McCain Boulevard commercial corridor over the holidays. He said the 25-foot hydraulic tower was used to monitor large shopping crowds and deter crime -- particularly vehicle break-ins -- at the Lakewood Village Shopping Center, McCain Mall, and Best Buy and Target stores.
The department moved the tower between those locations.
"It's like anything else -- you put a police car at a bank, it's going to deter some crime," Dedrick said.
Department data show the number of vehicle break-ins actually increased at those retail locations in November and December compared to previous years. But the numbers remained low. There were seven vehicle break-ins at McCain Mall, compared to three over the same two-month period in both 2015 and 2014.
Police recorded one vehicle break-in at Best Buy at 4229 E. McCain Blvd.. There were none in November and December of the previous two years.
Two vehicle break-ins were recorded at Target at 4000 E. McCain Blvd. over the holidays. Police recorded none during that time in 2015 and 2014.
Dedrick said that although there was an uptick in vehicle break-ins at those locations last year, the mobile surveillance tower, along with increased patrols, will help keep the numbers low.
"If we can only have three more this year than last year and they're already in the single digits, we're doing pretty good," he said. "That's not very many, especially when you've got that many cars at the mall [and other locations] all day and in the evening."
Dedrick said the surveillance tower will continue to be deployed at shopping centers, and will also be used to monitor concerts, street festivals and other public gatherings in North Little Rock.
The department acquired the tower in 2015 through the Arkansas Department of Emergency Management Division of Federal Surplus Property, according to records released under the state Freedom of Information Act. The division, which is governed by the U.S. General Services Administration, donates vehicles, weapons, furniture, tools and other equipment to eligible agencies.
North Little Rock police paid nothing for the tower, but spent $4,789.19 to paint it and $2,454.82 to repair its electrical system, records show.
"We're still in the midst of putting a video system in that tower, but it does have full radio capability," Dedrick said. "We have a radio installed in it, so if someone is up in that tower, they can communicate with any officer on the ground."
New towers cost about $80,000, according to the manufacturer.
In a promotional video, FLIR describes the tower as an "on-demand persistent surveillance platform that a single officer can deploy quickly and easily as a deterrent in high-risk areas, for crowd control at a special event, or to stand watch over a permanent border or perimeter."
The U.S. deployed FLIR Skywatch towers -- equipped with infrared cameras, ground sensors and other high-tech gear -- for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. It began distributing the towers, and other surplus equipment, to local law enforcement agencies as military operations decreased.
The North Little Rock department is among several law enforcement agencies in Arkansas that have deployed mobile surveillance towers in recent years.
The Jefferson County sheriff's office reported in 2014 that it had acquired a Skywatch tower through a federal anti-terrorism program administered by the state Department of Emergency Management.
Little Rock police acquired two FLIR Skywatch towers through a federal surplus program in 2012, agency records show. The department paid $2,375 for the towers, plus the price of shipping them roughly 800 miles from Savannah, Ga., at a cost between $2 and $3 per mile, according to records.
The towers are equipped with closed circuit surveillance cameras, public address speakers and radio communication systems.
Special operations Sgt. Casey Clark said the department uses the towers at special events, such as Riverfest and the Arkansas State Fair, to "detect and deter crime where we have large concentrations of people or vehicles." The towers are also deployed during the holidays at busy retail locations, including the Promenade at Chenal and Outlets of Little Rock,.
Little Rock police sometimes borrowed a mobile surveillance tower from Bryant police before they acquired their own towers.
"You can get a better view above the crowd and kind of get a heads up if something is brewing or an incident is going on that maybe we couldn't see otherwise," department spokesman officer Richard Hilgeman said.
The department declined to comment on how often an officer is inside the tower.
North Little Rock police, on the other hand, said their tower was frequently unmanned over the holidays. Dedrick said police don't have the manpower to station an officer inside the tower each time it's deployed.
But he added that the tower's tinted windows make it difficult to tell whether someone is inside.
Dedrick said the tower will be manned more frequently in the future.
"This was our first year to do it," he said. "Now we've kind of got it up and operating."
Metro on 01/30/2017