SCHAWANA - The Beverly-Schawana area will have a permanent set of eyes looking for and recording criminal activity.

Grant County Sheriff Tom Jones announced last week that the Board of County Commissioners has approved the purchase of 18 video surveillance cameras.

The cameras will be installed in the Larson community of Moses Lake, the Beverly-Schawana area and the Grant County Courthouse campus in Ephrata. The cost of the project is about $68,000.

"The mission of the cameras is to help us catch the bad guys," Jones said. The cameras will be used to record the actions of persons or vehicles associated with criminal acts. That is our concern and the purpose for installing these cameras. The cameras will be focused on public areas, specifically streets and sidewalks."

In addition to the enhancement of courthouse security, the cameras are necessary for the security of two Grant County communities facing difficult crime problems - Larson and Beverly-Schawana. The Outpost mini mart in Schawana was recently robbed for the second time in three years.

"The cameras will be fixed sets of eyes which we can reference when trying to solve crimes," Jones said. "Since we can't have a deputy on every street corner, the cameras will give us the additional help we need."

Recorded footage can be used to help prosecutors prove cases and be shown to juries during the trials of alleged criminals.