NYS lawmakers to weigh security cameras in state parks after girl's abduction
Sen. James Tedisco (R-Saratoga Springs) last fall introduced the first of two proposals to install cameras at all New York State parks. Credit: AP / Hans Pennink
ALBANY — Security cameras would be installed in every state park under two proposals prompted by the abduction of a 9-year-old girl from a state campground in September.
If either proposal is approved in the state budget negotiations, security cameras would be installed at 120 state parks that don’t have video surveillance. Sixty parks do have it.
The measures stem from a Sept. 30 abduction in Moreau Lake State Park and campground in northern Saratoga County. A 9-year-old girl was riding her bike in the wooded trails when she was taken, police said. That led to a search by 400 police, other first responders and volunteers over two days. The girl was found safe after a police officer spotted a suspect known to the girl's family. The suspect faces kidnapping charges.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has included a $53 million plan for security cameras in all state parks in her state budget proposal.
“We had a horrible situation of a little girl kidnapped at a state park a few months ago and I want to make sure every state park has security cameras that can identify vehicles that come and go so we can help law enforcement if that ever happens again,” Hochul said Monday.
State Sen. James Tedisco (R-Saratoga Springs) introduced a bill last year calling for cameras to be installed in every park, saying it was a “vital public safety measure.”
“When an abduction occurs, seconds count and time is of the essence and could make the difference between life and death,” Tedisco said. “If security cameras were already in place last September at Moreau Lake State Park, perhaps the kidnapper would have been identified and the girl found much sooner and not 48 hours after her disappearance.”
The Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation agency is conducting a “security assessment” of all parks now, said Tim Ruffinen, spokesman for the state Division of Budget. No information on which parks in and around Long Island have security cameras was immediately available from the budget division or the parks agency.
Either bill would have to contend with concerns about privacy and disrupting the natural beauty of state parks filled with mountain views, trails, lakes, rivers and ocean shores. So far, however, no group has mounted any public opposition.
The Democratic governor and the senator in the Republican minority conference make odd allies in the sharp partisan divide of Albany. Republicans have slammed nearly every element of Hochul’s budget proposal and Hochul shot back a week ago questioning whether some GOP legislators understood budgeting.
But Tedisco’s concept, which may have had little chance to advance in the Democratic-led legislature, is boosted by Hochul’s effort. Now the bill will be part of negotiations with the Democratic leaders of the Senate and Assembly and could be included in the state budget deal due by April 1.
“I appreciate the governor listening to my proposal for this common-sense public safety measure and including it in her budget, so we can keep all New Yorkers who recreate in our state’s 180 parks safe and more secure,” Tedisco said.
Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.
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