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QUINCY - Quincy installed eight cameras in city hall to improve security.

Police Chief Richard Ackerman demonstrated the cameras following a recent city council meeting by showing footage on his laptop. 

The equipment cost about $1,800. The system records video throughout the building.

"With a password, you can access them anywhere you have Internet access," Ackerman said. "We're going to get some for outside ,too. You can have an officer sitting blocks away monitoring what's going on in the station."

The system allows the police to use the video as evidence if needed, the chief said, adding it was about time to install the cameras to improve security.

"We've never had them before and most city halls do have some kind of security system," Ackerman said. "This runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It's on an automatic loop so it will retain images for about two weeks. Then it starts over again."

About half of the cameras can record sound, including the two installed in the city council chambers, he said.

"This same kind of system ... We could put cameras in any part of the community. If some place was getting hit by graffiti, for example... we can sit around the corner and monitor it," he said.

The city does own two motion-sensitive cameras, but aren't able to be reviewed until after the fact, the chief said.