Lifeguards call for additional electronic aid

Newport Beach lifeguards are asking for more electronic help to keep tabs on the city’s seven miles of sand.

The City Council on Tuesday will decide whether to buy six video cameras to add to the two that already survey the shoreline. The existing cameras, at the Newport and Balboa piers, allow lifeguards to see safety issues and the public to check beach conditions on the Internet.

The city has 38 manned lifeguard towers and 10 patrol units on the beach in the summer, but at less busy times there’s no reason for such high staffing levels.

“The idea was that it would be a great tool for lifeguards, both during the summer and the off-season,” Newport Beach Lifeguard Battalion Chief Eric Bauer said. “We have three or four people on some days in the off-season and they have to monitor seven miles of beach.”

For several years, the city has had an agreement with Surfline, a Huntington Beach-based global surf forecasting company, so lifeguards can see what Surfline cameras in Newport pick up. The city also tested its own cameras at the piers with help from Surfline.

The program has worked well, so the fire department has proposed adding six more cameras that would be placed at The Wedge, Orange Street, Corona del Mar State Beach, and 15th, 44th and 56th streets.

The $72,000 for the cameras would come from the city’s settlement for the 1990 American Trader oil spill.

“The partnership with the city has worked out great,” Surfline Vice President of Technology Tim Chandler said. “We work very closely with the lifeguards just to give them those changing condition reports.”

Surfline has seven cameras in Newport Beach, but the city would have more control of cameras it owns. Bauer said the intent is not to infringe on Surfline’s business, so the city may simply provide the public with still images or delay them.

The proposed cameras may raise privacy concerns, so officials have created a policy to make sure they’re used appropriately, Bauer said.

“Ninety-nine percent of the time, the cameras will be on a pre-set computerized plan as far as what they’re going to be viewing,” he said. “We’re very sensitive to the public’s privacy concerns. It’s already been brought up as an issue, but it’s going to be closely monitored and supervised.”

Only specific employees who have been trained will be able to operate the camera system or change the direction of cameras. If the cameras are looking back at the beach, homes along the sand will be blurred out or otherwise shielded.

Bauer said lifeguards will respond if they see rule-breaking, such as theft or alcohol on the beach, but their main focus is safety.

“We want people to enjoy themselves, but we have to react, we have to call the appropriate resources, because sometimes those people that are breaking the law affect other people that are enjoying the beach,” he said.