Myrtle Beach, SC government installs 100 more cameras. ‘Big brother’ or community safety?
Reality Check is a new Sun News series holding those in power accountable, shining a light on local issues, and answering readers’ essential questions. Have a question or concern we can answer? Email online@thesunnews.com.
Myrtle Beach will install 100 new security cameras later this spring, with half of them planned to be installed in Market Common, the city said.
With the new cameras, Myrtle Beach will have 1,200 security cameras located around the city. Mark Kruea, the director of public information for Myrtle Beach, said the cameras are intended to keep people safe. The Myrtle Beach Police real-time crime unit keeps an eye on surveillance for the city.
Currently, the city is installing the wiring and will install the cameras after that is finished, he said. Areas to get the new cameras will include Valor Park and busy intersections that previously did not have cameras.
“It would be nice to have a record to know if something happens,” Kruea said.
The Sun News requested information about how much the cameras cost and had not gotten the amount at time of publication. There was a request for $100,000 for a “camera replacement plan” found within the 2023-2024 municipal budget, but it is unclear if it was approved.
Mayor Brenda Bethune posted about the coming cameras on Facebook and got mixed reviews. Some people said adding more cameras feels like a “Big Brother” situation and they didn’t like to be watched while others feel safer. A few people questioned cameras’ effectiveness of stopping crime.
Studies show that security cameras do help decrease crime, Security.org stated. Cameras are most effective when paired with other measures, like good lighting and security guards.
Even if crime is prevented, cameras are not always effective at solving crimes.
In April 2023, during an altercation, a North Carolina man shot a gun into someone’s car along a crowded Ocean Boulevard, The Sun News reported. A bystander took a video and it gained hundreds of thousands of views. Despite the bystander camera and the thousand cameras across the city, it took the city nearly a month to arrest someone, according to The Sun News.
