Cameras catch wide variety

Date: 16/05/2005
Source: The Cincinnati Post
Author: Tony Cook

Surveillance and security cameras often catch people with their guard down, and those who monitor them see all sorts of spectacles.

While many cameras are not regularly monitored, observers of those that are spot activity that ranges from funny and odd to downright nasty.

For nearly a dozen years, Veterans Security guard Mark Weaver has monitored 15 cameras focused on a parking garage on Ninth Street downtown.

"I see guys and girls kissing, just the usual stuff," he said.

At times, the cameras pay off handsomely.

Weaver once caught a man attempting to jimmy the trunk of a car.

He called police and held the man until officers arrived.

At the Main Public Library of Cincinnati and Hamilton County downtown, security guards catch people kissing on the elevator, surreptitiously munching food from purses and backpacks and, of course, stealing library resources.

One of the most memorable moments came last year, when security guards spotted on camera a man lighting up a cigarette in the fiction section.

When they approached the man, he slipped the cigarette into the pocket of his down vest. As guards escorted the man out, a plume of smoke followed.

"By the time he was outside, the vest was blazing and feathers were flying all over," said library spokeswoman Amy Banister.

Unlike the near-constant monitoring at the library, Weaver, 44, of Blue Ash, only checks the monitors periodically throughout his shift. But on some occasions, that's been too often.

"On second shift a year-and-a-half ago there was a flasher," he said. "He would flash the parking attendant."

That, however, was rated PG compared to the time he saw two men engaging in sexual acts during the night shift.

"I was completely disgusted," Weaver said. "I said to myself, 'Can't you do that stuff at home?' I told my boss about it and he said, 'I don't need to see it, Mark.' I erased the tape."

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