Cheesman Park aficionados may have noticed a solar-powered security camera unit that recently appeared in front of the park’s pavilion.
“What the literal hell is this?” asked one anonymous Facebooker as the cameras sparked debates about mass surveillance on the Capitol Hill/Cheesman Park neighborhood group.
There was plenty of speculation about the new cameras, but Denver Parks and Recreation spokesperson Stephanie Figueroa cut straight to the point when Denverite asked about it.
“We installed this camera during the winter when there were two trees set on fire within the park,” Figueroa said.
Figueroa is referring to a pair of fires that were lit on New Year’s Day. Two Rocky Mountain Juniper trees caught fire and one had to be removed. The arson investigation was inconclusive at the time, and has since been closed.
There have not been any further fire incidents at the city’s parks since then.
Security cameras at Denver parks are rare, but not unheard of. A map documenting HALO cameras in the city shows a handful of parks have the “High Activity Location Observation” cameras, including Mestizo-Curtis Park. Others, like Washington Park and Ruby Hill Park, don’t have any.
Figueroa said the solar-powered installation is the only security camera in Cheesman Park and will stay there for the foreseeable future. The city already had the cameras in their arsenal and just had to deploy it to the park.
