The Town of Irmo continues to push for resident safety and looks to implement more cameras in high-crime areas.

At its regular Jan. 16 meeting, Irmo Town Council voted to enter a $55,000 contract with Sharpvue, an Irmo-based security system company, to implement the additional cameras.

Crime has been an ongoing issue, particularly within the areas surrounding Harbison Gardens, predominantly in the Beacon Hills community. Since last year, residents complaining of crime crossing over from that Columbia apartment complex have pushed for security upgrades, routinely requesting cameras to be installed.

According to Town Administrator Courtney Dennis, Sharpvue will be installing five 5MP IR Vandal Dome cameras with varifocal lens, these cameras will be placed in the Columbia Avenue area near the Beacon Hill and Carmel Commons neighborhoods.

In April of last year, council approved $40,000 the installation six cameras in Beacon Hill, Carmel Commons, the Harbison Community, at the Friarsgate neighborhood entrance and along College Street. The six license plate cameras have since been installed, with the focus now on installing static cameras.

“They can't have eyes everywhere all the time,” a Sharpvue spokesperson said of the Irmo Police Department. “This helps them give them real time alerts where they can see the alert to get over to Beacon Hill, respond a little bit better.”

They added that the additional cameras will provide the opportunity to verify what they are looking at to determine whether or not it is a situation to which  the department needs to respond.

“Video verification is a powerful tool that can ultimately save the department money from, you know, running a couple of squad cars to a scene that they don't need to be,” they said.

During the meeting, Dennis claimed that they were attempting to partner with Dominion Energy to attach the static cameras to utility poles, ultimately reducing costs. Unfortunately, due to Dominion’s moratorium about attaching to their poles, that option was out.

On top of the $55,000, the town would be responsible for the monthly costs for the software and cell service required for the cameras. The cameras themselves will be placed on a decorative pole, with the town working with Dominion to get power to those poles.

According to the Sharpvue spokesperson, the footage obtained will be stored on the town’s cloud for 30 days of retention, after that the only data that will be retained is data saved will be retained.

This is just another step to combat the crime rates in Irmo. Since the increase in residents pushing for action, meetings have happened between various stakeholders, including City of Columbia, Superintendent Akil Ross with Lexington-Richland School District 5, the Irmo Police Department, Columbia City Council Member Tina Herbert and other city representatives, the Harbison Community Association, and Harbison Gardens’ management. 

The apartment’s management company laid out proposed fixes last August, including reducing vegetation, updating previously installed cameras, hiring of a patrol guard, adding a required code of conduct and possibly adding a gate to the community. 

This area sits in what some residents have labeled the “Bermuda Triangle of 911” due to the overlapping jurisdiction between Lexington and Richland County law enforcement agencies, including the Irmo and Columbia police departments and the Richalnd and Lexington County sheriff’s departments.

Irmo Police Chief Bobby Dale told the Chronicle last March that the ongoing criminal activity at the apartment complex could lead to quality of life issues, but he added that his department does not have jurisdiction in Harbison Gardens, which creates difficulties in addressing the problem. 

Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott told the Chronicle last April that his department has been holding conversations with Irmo and Columbia police to come together and address the problem.