If you have a feeling you're being watched in downtown Wilkes-Barre, it is because you likely are. In city parks, too.

Wilkes-Barre Mayor Tom Leighton on Monday unveiled the city's new security camera command center inside the city police station. The command center is equipped with 10 large monitors, which display and record high-quality video from approximately 50 cameras that zoom and pan.

"This puts us on the map," Leighton said.

Last month, Leighton boasted that when the Citywide Surveillance System is fully complete, Wilkes-Barre will have more security cameras per person than New York City or Los Angeles. He said safety outweighs any concerns by privacy advocates.

"We're not here to watch people. We're here to prevent crime. We're not going to be spying on anyone," Leighton said. "This is going to send a message to anyone thinking about robbing a convenience store or selling drugs."

Leighton invited U.S. Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski and state police Commissioner Col. Frank E. Pawlowski to the gathering Monday morning. A combination of federal and state grants paid for the $2.1 million in startup costs for the camera network and command center, Leighton said.

Four of the 46-inch monitors are used to project an interactive, three-dimensional look at Public Square. Multiple cameras focus on Public Square. Cameras are also located in other parts of the downtown and in city parks. The network will also be used to monitor creeks and the river during high-water events.

At least 100 more cameras are being added.

Wilkes-Barre police Chief Gerard Dessoye said the camera system "is a tool, a very sophisticated, very modern tool. It will be a great help."

"I put the greatest value on the system as a preventative tool based on the fact a criminal may realize he could be apprehended because of the camera network," Dessoye said.

Hawkeye Security Solutions administers the camera network, which will be staffed around the clock by Legion Security Services. Hawkeye is a nonprofit organization created at Leighton's direction to handle implementation of the network. It is led by nine board members appointed by the mayor.

By Bob Kalinowski