Surveillance cameras to be installed soon in downtown Fort Myers

FORT MYERS, Fla.- Forty-nine security cameras will be installed throughout downtown Fort Myers within the next few weeks.

“If a 911 call comes in, you can zoom in that area and you can look at that particular camera,” said City Manager Saeed Kazemi.

Fort Myers will spend nearly $450,000 for the first phase of the project. It’s been an idea discussed for about a year, but after the deadly ZombiCon shooting, city leaders felt the cameras needed to be installed as soon as possible.

“[It] says to would-be perpetrators, ‘do not come here and behave poorly, you are going to get caught and you are going to get prosecuted,'” said Fort Myers Mayor Randy Henderson.

Each camera costs about $2,500 and monitoring centers will be installed at City Hall and the Fort Myers Police Department. The idea is to expand the camera network into other areas of the city.

“Creating a canopy over our city, where it is appropriate to do so,” said Henderson.

The city says it will make sure the cameras are only watching public areas and they cannot look into home windows.

Henderson says they want the cameras in place before New Year’s Eve.