COLUMBIA BOROUGH, LANCASTER COUNTY - Toppled tombstones and broken park benches now have officials in Columbia, Lancaster County focused on the idea of security cameras. Between 15 and 20 cameras will be placed on downtown streets, parks and even parking lots, in an attempt to stop crime.

Mayor Leo Lutz says, “we’ve gone as far as increasing foot patrols, bike patrols with officers, vehicle patrols in the areas we consider to be hot spots for what’s going on.”

Since police can’t be everywhere, the Mayor says the cameras would give them more eyes across a wide cross section of town.

Lutz says, “we’re going to put cameras on Main Street here at the request of the Downtown Business District folks, put cameras in parks and some other areas in the community.”

Parks like the one on Locust Street. Sue Blumenschein lives next door and supports the idea of cameras.

She says, “I know we’ve had a lot of vandalism across the street in this particular park in the years I’ve lived here and if it helps curb the that, that’s great.”

But there could be concerns about privacy. It’s an issue with cameras in the city of Lancaster, where cameras are monitored by a citizen’s group.

Mayor Lutz says, “that’s why we’re sticking with our police who are trained and sworn personnel to handle that kind of stuff and that kind of confidentiality.”

Neighbor Don Jones says, “I’m in my house, I’m private enough, when I go outside, I don’t need any privacy outside.”

Blumenschein says, “I don’t have a problem with that, my feeling is, if you don’t do anything wrong, why should it bother you?”

Mayor Lutz expects the cameras to be installed by the end of the year. They will cost about $100,000, most of which will likely be paid by grants.

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