Fort Myers to expand crime-fighting cams to Dunbar

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The City of Fort Myers is spending $200,000 to install a pair of cameras at the entrances of two high-crime neighborhoods in the Dunbar community, City Manager Saaed Kazemi told WINK News.

The cameras, similar to the more than 100 cameras installed downtown in the wake of the 2015 Zombicon shooting, will be put in at Harlem Lakes off Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Habitat Village near Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard. Crews have already begun work to set up the cameras at Habitat Village.

Kazemi said the cameras help police investigate crimes and hopes they’ll also act as deterrents. New Fort Myers Police Chief Derrick Diggs used similar surveillance to battle crime in Toledo, Ohio, where he previously served as chief.

The downtown cams, which cost more than $500,000, helped identify a man making off with a nearly $2,000 tesla coil from the Indigo Room club last month. Violent crime has long plagued the Dunbar area, where the second deadly shooting in five days took place Thursday morning.

The city plans to install cameras in more neighborhoods once the funding is available, Kazemi said. Diggs said the $200,000 cameras should be installed by the end of the month.