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Lakewood-Busti police are applying for a grant that would include funding for a camera at the intersection of Fairdale and Fairmount avenues.
While we have been wary of the increasing use of cameras – particularly in neighborhoods where there can be an expectation of privacy – we can't disagree with the reasons why Matthew Bentley, Lakewood-Busti police chief, would want to have camera coverage of this particular intersection.
Despite the intersection's presence in a series of intersections with stop lights that also include turn arrow signals, Fairmount and Fairdale is an area that has more than its share of traffic accidents as people try to make their way into and out of the Walmart Supercenter in the area. Having camera coverage will make investigating those accidents much easier. Having a camera at the Fairdale and Fairmount avenue also provides an additional eye on one of the busiest traffic corridors in the south county.
Walmart is also an area where Lakewood-Busti police officers spend far too much time dealing with shoplifters and other issues. Petit larceny cases are the top arrest type for Lakewood-Busti police – and many of those 75 arrests came after reports from Walmart, while the 169 calls from the community to investigate larceny and shoplifting incidents were the fifth-highest type of call the department responded to in 2025. Over the years, there have been proposals to actually keep an officer stationed near the store's parking lot to better police the area. That proposal didn't go anywhere, but the fact that one could actually make the case for such a plan speaks to the sheer number of responses to the area.
In our opinion, purchasing technology to better watch the area around Fairmount and Fairdale avenues makes a lot of sense.