The Downtown Improvement District on Tuesday discussed a proposed grant program to encourage downtown property owners and merchants to install or upgrade security cameras and register them with the Sarasota Police Department's CityView vendor registry.

Julie, a district staff member, told the board the program would require applicants to install or upgrade cameras, register the system with the police Department and meet the department's technical requirements. She said $25,000 is available in the district's fiscal-year budget under "other grants," but the board must decide how much to allocate for the program this year and whether to set a per-application cap.

Why it matters: the police described registering privately owned cameras as a way to expand law enforcement access to footage without the district building and maintaining its own camera network, which staff said can become obsolete and costly. Board members said cameras could help document incidents downtown and speed investigations, an argument underscored by merchants who said footage resolved recent disputes and helped law enforcement respond more quickly.

Discussion and next steps: board members questioned whether a $25,000 pool would be sufficient, how to ensure equitable distribution, and whether the district risks supplanting municipal policing responsibilities. One member proposed a $10,000 matching-grant pilot capped at $500 per applicant, but the board did not adopt that proposal.

Instead the board voted to poll members for interest in pursuing the program and directed staff to return to the next meeting with detailed cost estimates, vendor options, a draft applicant kit (including a simple vendor-agnostic equipment list), and suggested program caps or match percentages. Julie said she would verify whether camera owners can register only exterior cameras (rather than entire systems) and collect sample vendor pricing for typical storefront installations.

No formal funding commitment was made at the meeting.