OKC Police Use New Ways To Ensure Safety At State Fair

There is a pretty visible police presence at the fair, with officers in uniform everywhere you turn. But there are a few ways police are keeping an eye on you without you even knowing it.

Friday, September 13th 2013, 7:10 pm

By: News 9


There is a pretty visible police presence at the fair, with officers in uniform everywhere you turn. But there are a few ways police are keeping an eye on you without you even knowing it.

Most people out here are glad to see the officers around the fairgrounds. But Oklahoma City police also have cameras located throughout the fairgrounds looking for suspicious activity.

"There's one right down here, there's one in the southwest corner, there's one out by the old boy scouts building," said Captain Brian Williford with the Oklahoma City Police Department. "Then there's one over at 89er Drive. We also have light towers out at strategic places in the midway. "

Add to that, two sky watch towers along the midway, and four in the parking lots. And all those eyes in the sky are monitored by officers on the ground below, with computer monitors that have almost every angle of the fair covered.

"This one in particular will zoom in and allow us to see an area of interest," said Sgt. David Garey, also with the Oklahoma City police department.

That zoom in feature can help them spot and possibly stop a crime from even happening. Of course there are plenty of uniformed officers reporting for their shifts. But the department also has undercover officers in plain clothes patrolling the fairgrounds as well. So you never know if the person walking by you is a cop or not.

"We want citizens to be safe not only when they are in the fair, but we want their vehicles to be safe from burglars and people out in the parking lots," said Capt. Williford. "So we are watching the fairgrounds on the outside as well as the inside."

Fair goers like Candi Buell and her family are glad.

"We have four kids and a baby," said Buell. "And sometimes we don't have enough eyes to have on all the kids so yeah it's really comforting."

There is also something new you will see officers driving. Not just bikes and golf carts, but two state of the art 4-wheelers donated by Kawasaki that can get to places they normally could not access. And they can get there fast.

But even with all those extra set of eyes on the ground and in the skies police still advise you to take your own precautions. Stay in well-lit areas, never come out to the fair alone, and keep any valuables and purses out of your cars.

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