Crime cameras tied up in red tape

From the Daily News:

A plan to install extra sets of police eyes in the Rockaways has been blinded by red tape, local stakeholders say.

The more than two year push to install NYPD surveillance cameras at six locations on the peninsula has stalled in the department’s legal division, despite the money being dispersed by the Assembly last year, fumed civic leaders and elected officials.

“I’m tired of talking this to death. The subject keeps coming up,” said Danny Ruscillo Jr., president of the 100th Precinct Community Council. “We’re not getting any results.”

The $300,000 for ARGUS camera systems — three cameras each in the 100th and 101st Precincts — was originally earmarked in 2010 by former Assemblywoman Audrey Pfeffer.

Her successor, Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder, told the Daily News that the NYPD received the state money in November after it cleared the legislature’s approval process.

An NYPD spokeswoman said on Wednesday that “the process is under review.”

One police source said the process was delayed, in part, because the state Dormitory Authority took over a year to clear the application and send it to the NYPD.

But Goldfeder noted that doesn’t explain why the money has been sitting idle with the NYPD since November.