SAN BENITO ? Soon, city officials will be on the watch around the clock.
City commissioners this past week approved a budget that includes money to buy about $120,000 worth of surveillance cameras, officials said.
After about two years of planning, officials said the city will buy more than 50 cameras to install at city buildings to deter crime, including employee theft.
?We want employees and customers to know they?re there,? Mayor Joe Hernandez said of the cameras.
Cameras will be placed at City Hall, Municipal Court, the service center, the water and sewer plants, and the police and fire departments, City Manager Manuel Lara said.
?We?re strategically placing them to make sure we have good security,? Lara said.
The planned purchases come after the June theft of a Ford F-150 pickup from the city?s service center on Stenger Street, where heavy equipment and supplies are stored, Lara said. Authorities recovered the truck and arrested a man who was not a city employee.