The city of Desert Hot Springs has installed at least 20 cameras in a public surveillance network the police chief calls unlike anything in the country.

The network will eventually include cameras posted in 30 public places, mostly city parks, and in 16 squad cars.

Once they are activated, dispatchers and officers will be able to monitor the cameras from not only their police station desktops, but also their laptops over a secure outdoor wireless network.

That mobile function makes the system unique from any other public surveillance system, Police Chief Pat Williams said.

“We're it. Nobody else. This system in particular is unlike any other in the country because of its mobile application,” Williams said.

Some Coachella Valley cities, like Palm Springs and Cathedral City, have public cameras but do not have the mobile capability.

The network in Desert Hot Springs is the latest step in the city's ongoing effort to crack down on crime, Mayor Yvonne Parks said.

“We need all the eyes and ears on the streets as we can, so as crimes occur we can catch (criminals) more readily,” she said.

Monitoring of the cameras will be triggered by a call to check on a specific site live or by reviewing tapes after an incident, Williams said, calling it “passive monitoring.”

The cameras in the squad car, though, will specifically take advantage of the live streaming function.

When one officer calls for back-up, others will be able to prepare for assistance by tuning into the officer's dash cam, Williams said.

“Rolling into the location, they've got more intelligence, more data in real time about what's going on, so it gives them strategic planning capacity before they get on scene,” Williams said.

The plan only calls for 30 cameras, but the network has been built to potentially support as many as 150, Williams said. That could leave room for a partnership with the school district to add cameras on site.

Redevelopment dollars, plus park, law enforcement, community center and “general facility” fees fund the system.

Kate McGinty is a reporter for The Desert Sun. She can be reached at kate.mcginty@thedesertsun.com or (760) 778-6451.