In December 2006, television viewers nationwide were stunned by video imagery of the drunken driver of a parade float loaded with children attempting to flee from police in a high-speed chase. The man, who apparently decided the parade wasn’t moving fast enough for him, was apprehended – and the video, which came from a municipal camera system, was important evidence against him. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the incident.

The municipality is Anderson, S.C., and the eight-camera video surveillance system that captured the wayward driver on a digital video recorder was installed by Blue Ridge Security Systems, a 65-employee systems integrator also based in Anderson, a company that ranks No. 63 on the SDM 100. Today the video system continues to protect the downtown business area and has been expanded to other parts of town.

“The city and the community have invested a lot to revitalize downtown,” explained Mark Cunningham, information technology director for the City of Anderson. “There are a lot of new businesses coming in and the city wanted to make sure people coming downtown
felt secure.” Until a few years ago, no one lived downtown, but at that time, condos and second-floor loft apartments began to appear. As Cunningham noted, “It’s becoming a 24-hour place to be.”

Before the surveillance system was installed, some of the new downtown infrastructure was attracting
vandals. “There were two new fountains that were constantly being hit,” Cunningham said. On one occasion, pranksters pointed a nozzle out of one of the fountains, which caused the fountain to run dry and the motor to burn out. Another time, someone put a bottle of dish soap in the fountain, which created suds 20 feet high and took a whole day to clean out. “It sounds comical, but it was costly,” Cunningham recalled.

Another important city treasure that needed to be protected is an antique generator that helped Anderson get its nickname “The Electric City.” The city was one of the first to transmit hydroelectric power over power lines. The generator, which is now on display in a city park and has been painstakingly restored thanks to citizen contributions, originally was located at a river outside of town. Now that video cameras have been installed to watch both fountains and the generator, vandals have steered clear of all three landmarks.