SafeCity is a community focused program dedicated to fostering the safety, revitalization and continued growth of local business corridors in Savannah, Georgia by implementing security and technology tools designed to protect the community in a time of crisis. With this program launched by scDataCom, video cameras are being placed in strategic locations throughout the community in order to provide as many businesses as possible clear coverage of their facilities.

During the Covid-19 Health Crisis, access to this footage will be offered for free and made available to participants in order to provide peace of mind to one of Savannah’s most valuable resources — its community of entrepreneurs.

“This is a beta version of the system we were planning to install, but things have accelerated due to the current crisis. We are in a position to implement a solution now that will allow businesses a way to protect and to personally keep eyes on their facilities through the duration of this shut down,” said Alaina Ford, founder of scDataCom. “Our business is considered critical infrastructure — we are lucky that, as of now, our trucks are still rolling. The equipment we are installing is state of the art and costs us the exact same amount sitting in inventory as it does deployed where it could do some good. My hope is that the added security brings other small businesses some level of peace of mind while they’re forced to close their doors — we have to band together to get through this.”

One of the equipment manufacturers scDataCom is partnering with for the pilot program is Razberi Technologies. “Razberi Technologies is happy to be a part of scDataCom’s pilot to help ease local business stress during these uncertain times,” said Mike Taylor, vice president of sales at the company.

Integrator company scDataCom has been in Savannah for the past seven years, and owner Alaina Ford lives in the Starland district, where the first SafeCity cameras will be installed. “I chose to live here because I loved the energy that all of these fun new businesses brought in. I’m lucky that some are friends and customers,” Ford said. “And, living here, I know that there have been issues with burglary and property damage and that it has caused some concern, especially now. I’m hopeful that SafeCity will help ease their minds.”

Based on FBI crime data, Savannah has a higher crime rate than 68% of all other Georgia towns and cities. In 2019, the weekly average for property crimes in Savannah was 104 reported incidents/week and the weekly average for violent crime was 23 reported incidents/week.

SafeCity camera installation was in progress as of the time of publication and remote-viewing access is being granted to businesses for the next 30 days. For more information on SafeCity, visit www.safecitysav.com.