Elkhart police department has live surveillance of Washington Gardens community

ELKHART, Ind -- Elkhart police gets live surveillance of the Washington Gardens community due to a spike in criminal cases.

The Washington Gardens community is the home of nearly seven-hundred children and the safety of their summer break and more was the final straw to get to this point.

Having nearly 80 cameras on the property isn't new but for the officers to have real-time footage of the area, seems to be the best course of action, rather than having officers patrolling the area consistently. 

"The folks living in that area really didn't like it and they didn't want it to there because it was kind of, it just kind of invaded their privacy to have someone there all the time. So, this we feel is a better way to actually know what's going on." said Elkhart board of public safety member, Carol McDowell.

With the changes to the surveillance cameras, some believe they're already starting to see an impact.

"I will say there has not been as much shooting during the night time. It hasn’t been a lot of violence as much. It has calmed down everything because they know that people are watching." said Washington Gardens resident, Joyce Collum.