SECURITY CAMERAS COMING TO REST AREAS

Illinois Will Be First In Nation With Call Boxes And Live Cameras

SPRINGFIELD - The murder of a former Canton woman early last year helped
spur the state to spend nearly $4 million to equip highway rest stops with
security cameras and emergency call boxes, a first for any state in the
nation, officials said Monday.

The system will let people instantly contact State Police if they feel
threatened at one of the state's 53 rest stops and will give police a
record of crimes committed there.

The murder of Heather Tomich of Yorkville at a rest stop on Interstate 55
near Pontiac was the first at an Illinois rest stop in at least 10 years.
The slaying sparked interest in beefing up security, said Mike Monseur, a
spokesman for the Illinois Department of Transportation.

Tomich, 26, formerly of Canton, was beaten to death in January of last year
in the women's rest room. A Wapella resident, Kevin Bray, now 30, was
sentenced to life in prison for the crime.

Heightened security concerns after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks inspired
officials to speed up their plans, Monseur said.

"It adds to our homeland security," he said.

The new system also will let police watch activities at the rest stops any
time they like. For instance, if a child is abducted or a criminal is on
the loose, police could watch for suspicious activity at nearby rest stops.

"It adds peace of mind," Monseur said. "We want to make sure that Illinois
roads remain safe, and this is one way to do it."

All the cameras and call boxes are supposed to be in place by mid-October.

Several cameras will be set up at each rest stop along interstate highways,
indoors and out. Call boxes also will be erected inside the rest stops and
outside.

If people are in danger, they simply have to push a button on the emergency
box. That automatically contacts authorities and sends them the pictures
from that camera so they can see what is happening.

Monseur said most crimes at rest stops, visited by 33 million people a
year, are drug transactions or prostitution. Violent crimes are unusual, he
said, although he could provide no statistics on crime rates.

The first security cameras and call boxes should be in place next week at
rest stops in Pontiac and Peotone, he said. Signs will warn visitors that
their actions are being recorded and that police could be watching live, he
said.

The outdoor call box is a tall, blue column topped by a light that will
flash when someone contacts police. The indoor box is a more compact unit
attached to the lobby wall, though still with a flashing light.

The cameras operate continuously. State Police can watch the video feeds
live or review old video for any criminal activity before erasing it,
Monseur said. When someone activates a call box, police are alerted and
video from the five to seven cameras at that rest stop appears on their
monitors.

Having cameras monitoring a public area does not infringe on anyone's
privacy, provided the cameras cannot peek into people's bags or cars
without reasonable cause, said Ed Yohnka, a spokesman for the American
Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.

Lt. David Sanders, a spokesman for the State Police, said his department
has been working closely with the Transportation Department on the new
security system.

He said it will help prevent crimes and help solve the ones that do occur.

"Having a video record of what's going on at a rest area, it can be
invaluable if there's a crime committed there," Sanders said. "In this day
and age where you can have that technology, it seems very helpful."