The City of Victorville has indicated that it will replace it’s outdated video surveillance system. Six years after a project bringing video surveillance to crime-prone areas of the city failed before it could get off the ground, officials this week approved a critical step to revive the public safety initiative.

Called Victorville Safe City when it was launched in 2008, the program was designed to aid law enforcement in strategic zones where criminal activity was most prevalent.

But the hardware vendor pulled out of the project soon after and the system of closed-circuit television cameras proved to be inefficient. Poor-quality video, technically obsolete coaxial-based systems and hardware failures have since plagued the project, according to a city staff report.

Recently, the City Council approved an award to a new partner, Washington-based Leverage Information Systems, for the piggyback purchase to install, configure, and support what is now being touted as the Public Safety Video Network.

During the City Council meeting, Councilman Jim Kennedy brought up the concern of privacy.

“We’ve had complaints in the past from a couple of citizens who were bothered by the fact that we’ve had surveillance cameras in the parks,” he said. “They felt this was an infringement on their right of privacy, I suppose.” Victorville Sheriff’s Station Cpt. Sam Lucia answered, “each and every one of these cameras is strictly controlled to only view public-accessed or public areas. They’re restricted from viewing areas where there is an expectation of privacy.”

With a cost of $138,688.04 — the state will pick up 79 percent