A new group of unblinking sentinels will be keeping an eye on things throughout Fort Dodge as the City Council moves to expand a camera system intended to deter crime.

The council voted Monday to spend $180,000 in federal grant money to buy 26 stationary cameras and three mobile ones.

The cameras expand on a system started in 2021 with cameras downtown. The following year, cameras were installed in the area of Sixth Avenue North and North 22nd Street.

“By adding additional cameras to our city, it is the equivalent of adding numerous unblinking, never tiring and irrefutable witnesses anywhere they are to be placed,” Police Chief Dennis Quinn wrote in a report to the council. “That is a massive force multiplier for law enforcement and a massive increase to the safety and wellbeing of our citizens.”

In February, the city received $180,000 from the State Crisis Intervention Program/Byrne Justice Assistance Grant Program of the U.S. Department of Justice.

On Monday, the council voted to hire Iowa Fire Control LLC, of Fort Dodge, to install the additional cameras.

The council approved the purchase with no discussion. Councilman Quennel McCaleb was absent from the otherwise unanimous vote.

The additional cameras are expected to be installed by the end of this year.

According to Quinn, the camera purchase approved Monday night is not the end of the effort.

“Future fundraising will continue on and will ensure that this expansion is both maintained and continues to grow further,” he wrote.