Emergency Call Boxes Aim to Make Safer Streets

Greenbelt will soon take steps to make the walk along the pedestrian path on Metro Access Drive safer with the installation of an emergency call box. Two others will be placed in other areas of the city.

"We hope to have them installed this fall," said David Moran, Greenbelt assistant city administrator.

Residents can use the call boxes to report suspicious activity and to contact police immediately if a crime occurs.

Moran noted the pedestrian path has been the source of occasional criminal activity in the past because it is somewhat isolated.

"We want the call boxes to be a deterrent to crime," he said. "However, if something unfortunate does happen, the police can be called."

The two other call boxes will be installed along the sidewalk on Cherrywood Lane in front of Springhill Lake Recreation Center and on Springhill Lake Drive in the vicinity of Springhill Lake Elementary School and the commercial shopping center there, Moran said. These two will each have a surveillance camera attached to them.

Because there is no high-speed Internet access along Metro Access Drive, the box there cannot include the camera, Moran said.

The installation of the equipment is funded with a Community Development Block Grant that the city received in 2009 to make the Empirian Village area safer.

Resident Andy Carruthers, who has been active with public safety issues in the city for years, said he believes the emergency boxes are a step in the right direction for Greenbelt.

"This move will aid police and make folks feel safer," he said. "Call boxes combined with the cameras will make everyone feel safer."