Dear Action Line: I’m an almost-daily visitor to south City Market. Last week, as I pulled into a spot, I noticed a trailer with solar panels at its base and a long pole with lights and what looked like a siren at the top. Is this some sort of Orwellian surveillance cart keeping tabs on Durango residents? An instrument for thought control? ARE WE DOOMED? – Tinfoil Hat Tina
Dear Tinfoil Hat Tina,
At first I thought someone had been pulled over, or maybe there was some sort of police response in the Town Plaza parking lot. A flashing blue light pulsed across the dark Durango night. Hopefully it’s not another alleged chip aisle arsonist, I thought.
Upon closer inspection, there was no police car at all. Rather, it was a security trailer and pole that you mention. The tinfoil hat might be a pertinent idea after all in this Orwelian world we live in.
My first instinct was to check with the Durango Police Department, given the light that looks like a police cruiser with its lights turned on. But DPD appears to be off the hook on this one.
“Very similar to the one we own, however the mobile camera trailer in this case is actually owned by City Market,” said McKenzie Perdue with DPD. “Unfortunately, we are not aware of any particular circumstance for deploying the camera trailer.”
The police department has a Flock trailer that “we will often deploy it to monitor and capture any activity that could impact a particular spot where cameras or security systems aren’t implemented, or in areas that mounted cameras can’t reach,” Perdue said. But that’s not the one by south City Market.
That leads us to the grocery store itself, but finding answers was tricky. Action Line asked a store manager, who referred us to Kroegers’ corporate public relations teams. No worries, sometimes big companies want to control the message that they give to the press. However, we haven’t heard back from anybody at City Market or Kroegers.
We also tried calling the property management company that owns Town Plaza, which looks to be based in New Mexico, but also couldn’t get a response.
All we can tell is that the trailer is made by LiveView Technologies, from whom you can buy or rent a surveillance apparatus of your own.
“Headquartered in Utah since 2005, LiveView Technologies has provided on demand, rapidly deployed surveillance to the largest companies in the world,” LVT’s website reads. “Today, LVT is used by DOTs, oil, gas, law enforcement, retail, construction, housing and other industries. Whether you need surveillance in a parking lot, on a lonely roadway, at a busy intersection, or at a concert or sporting event – LVT has a solution for you.”
Action Line will continue to seek answers and update readers when we hear back from City Market.
Email questions to actionline@durangoherald.com or mail them to Action Line, The Durango Herald, 1275 Main Ave., Durango, CO 81301, via the USPS. Who knows, we may bump into each other at City Market.
