Red Bluff police say they are taking River Park back from the riffraff after security cameras and motion sensors there went online last week. Infrared and low-light cameras, motion sensors, and a public address system that monitors McGlynn Pool, the playground, and areas throughout the park went online March 18, according to a department news release.

The security system monitors and records activity at all times everyday and it allows dispatchers and officers to check on the park at the police department dispatch center, which is fitted with a wall-mounted television monitor that displays multiple camera feeds.

"Since the security cameras have been activated," according to the release, "Red Bluff police have contacted a man in the park soliciting sex, recovered video evidence of a hit and run resulting in damage to city property, stopped a fight in progress, and made an arrest."

The Red Bluff City Council in October 2013 approved the use of $21,589 in grant funding obtained by the city’s Parks and Recreation department to pay for the five-camera system, according to a Daily News article. The police call the system a "virtual fence."

At the October City Council meeting, the city estimated that a real fence around the park’s pool area would have cost the city about $40,000. The security system is capable of recording and storing recorded video for a minimum of 60 days, it was said at the meeting. […]