Tarboro leaders expanding camera network, gunshot detecting technology in response to shooting concerns

Both police and the community are hoping the project will have a significant impact on violent crime.

Tarboro Town Manager Troy Lewis told WRAL News the town has been operating 13 surveillance cameras in high-traffic locations since 2020 as part of a pilot project.

With residents expressing increased concern about shootings in recent months, the town has authorized an expansion of the system to 50 cameras.

“That will include some license plate reader cameras, as well as some shot-spotting technology that will hopefully help us to identify shots fired calls even faster than we currently do,” Lewis said.

Lewis told WRAL News the system will cost around $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding, and should be online within a year.

Tarboro Police Chief Jesse Webb said the area had a sharp increase of calls for shots fired and shootings with an injury from 2019 to 2021. However, Webb said both figures have dropped so far in 2022. WRAL News asked for specifics, but Webb was unable to provide them.

Webb said the pilot camera system had helped police solve multiple crimes in recent weeks.

“[The system] certainly offers another level of crime fighting that is going to help us in solving some of these cases and even prevention,” Webb told WRAL news.

Some Tarboro residents felt the cameras couldn’t come soon enough.

“I mean it’s hard knowing that someone is shooting and you don’t know who it is, and you don’t know whether that bullet’s intended for you,” said Tarboro resident Annette Waller. “So, it’ll make people feel a whole lot safer.”