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Frank A. Douglass Insurance Agency

Baraga County approves camera system for the jail

The Baraga County Board of Commissioners heard from representatives of Heartland Security and Sydaptic, Inc. about proposals to provide a security camera system for the jail. Sheriff Joe Brogan said there are several places along the exterior and interior of the building that do not have good coverage.

Right now we have a lot of blind spots…we have the front door, we have the back door and then behind the building. We have a lot of blind spots inside the building, places where there aren’t any cameras, like our lobby.

Heartland provided a demo of its system.

Say someone broke into this door right here and you knew this is where the incident occurred, I can draw this motion grid box right over here and focus on the people. Now the only thing on my camera I’m seeing is people coming inside and outside of that door right there, cutting my investigation time from hours to minutes to seconds.

Facial recognition can follow people throughout the building and vehicles can be tracked in a similar manner using exterior cameras. Sydaptic’s representative was available only for a question-and-answer session. He assured the board that his company’s cameras featured similar capabilities.

Heartland uses viewing stations with over 40-inch screens to display footage from their units. A license is required for each camera and each viewing station, significantly increasing the cost. With installation factored in, ten years of service for 26 cameras comes out to about $108,350.

Sydaptic provides 32 cameras and utilizes existing PCs, tablets, and other screens. A copy of the footage is kept locally, as well as in the cloud. The estimated cost ran to $62,532. Commissioner Lyle Olson made a motion to accept Sydaptic’s bid. It was supported by Gale Eilola and passed unanimously.

The board also voted to put out a request for bids to repair wallpaper and the tile roof at the courthouse. It voted to accept maternity leave for a member of the prosecutor’s office. Joe O’Leary said secretary Kelsey Olson doesn’t qualify for the Family Medical Leave Act due to not enough time served. She currently has $378 in paid time off accrued and will utilize that during a 30-day absence. The remaining portion of the term would be unpaid. Her due date is the 25th.

The last item of business was to approve the purchase of a new printer for $1,936 and a safe for $225.

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