PB leaders delay vote on requiring store surveillance cams

LITTLE ROCK, AR-- Monday night, Pine Bluff city leaders discussed the possibility of requiring convenience store and restaurant owners to install security cameras.

Aldermen hoped to vote on the issue, but decided to send the measure back to the committee phase for more revisions.

Alderman George Stepps says surveillance pictures help investigators solve crimes.

"We are concerned about the safety of the employees and the businessowners and the community as a whole," said Stepps.

But some people at the meeting say the issue puts additional financial stress on small businessowners.

"I am not against the cameras. Cameras can be a good thing. But (installing cameras) should be a decision that I, the businessowner, make," said Treble's Fish and Chicken owner Elbert Harris.

The issue stems from a crime at Big Red Food Mart back on September 25. That's when investigators say a security system malfunctioned at the store when the clerk, Mohammad Islam, was shot to death.

Police say had those cameras been working properly, the crime could have been on video.