Iowa City plans to add new cameras to Ped Mall

IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - New police cameras are coming to monitor the Iowa City Ped Mall this summer.

Trey Jennings, the General Manager of Brothers Bar & Grill, said he’ll be glad to see cameras up on the Ped Mall, both as a deterrent, but also to help catch people who cause problems.

”I’m all for it helps me do my job a little bit easier you know if we ever have incidents inside the bar, outside the bar,” Jennings said. “Anything happens it gives me a peace of mind that we can figure out who’s done these things and we don’t necessarily have to have people who are bad actors roaming around downtown.”

An example happened in July 2021 when a fight led to a shooting that wounded two people. Police used surveillance video from a nearby business to track down the shooter. 19 year old, Andre Roberts of Cedar Rapids later pled guilty to felony charges.

With the new cameras, Iowa City Police said they won’t be as reliant on private security cameras to get footage like this. Police told us it would cost about 95-thousand dollars to install 13 cameras this summer.

Maggy Moran, the General Manager of Revival, said that’s a small price to pay for a sense of safety.

”I feel completely safe in the Ped Mall I think it’s something the whole nation and state as a little bit of a rise in crime, but I have never felt unsafe in the Ped Mall, I think it’s a great safety measure not just for the shootings but for the safety of the community.”

Police say these cameras will *not* be used to actively monitor Ped Mall visitors and shoppers. The footage would only be accessed after an incident.

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