EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) -
On Monday, members of the United Neighborhoods of Evansville received an early look at the police department's newest meth fighting tool, The Guardian.
Don't be surprised if you see The Guardian, EPD's new armored surveillance video truck in your neighborhood.
It will be making it's rounds to high crime areas of town, hoping to tackle one of Evansville's most expensive drug problems.
"It's not meant to be a hidden vehicle. It's meant to be very in your face, we are the police, we are watching you. Or to the good people, we are the police and we're here to help," said EPD Chief Billy Bolin.
The vibrant colored former Brink's truck is equipped with four cameras that can zoom and rotate 360 degrees. The video can be viewed in real time from any computer or cell phone with the access code.
"Anywhere we have an ongoing neighborhood nuisance, a house, or a location that has a lot of crime happening, if you set this there the bad people probably aren't going to stay there," Bolin said.
Dr. William Wooten, the coordinator for the mayor's No Meth Task Force is confident The Guardian will help deter drug use as well.
"There's not a neighborhood, not a family, there's not any individual in our area that is not impacted in some way shape or form whether they realize it or not," Wooten said.
The Guardian is just making it's debut this month, but already there are several residents that have requested the surveillance in their neighborhoods. EPD says they hope to have a positive response from the community like the one's from residents in Peoria, Illinois and East St. Louis who also have similar trucks.
"The only complaints I could find were from the people that were being watched, and if you are doing something bad, and we're watching you. I want the decent people to feel safe and proud to know that we are out there helping them," Bolin said.
The public can get it's first up close look of "The Guardian on Tuesday at National Night Out at Wesselman Park.
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Don't be surprised if you see The Guardian, EPD's new armored surveillance video truck in your neighborhood.
