From the Classic Center to Pulaski street, 15 outdoor security cameras have constantly monitored an eight-block area of downtown for over three weeks.

Athens-Clarke County Police Captain Mike Shockley said it will take another month to determine exactly how helpful they will be.

“There’s a lot to learn,” Shockley said regarding the different visual tours the cameras are programmed to take and how to properly staff them during hours of peak activity.

They have been used to investigate about half a dozen cases so far, including a burglary, a robbery and a hit-and-run.

“The primary function is not to look for evidence, but to prevent crime early on,” Shockley said.

Teanna Wilson, a senior from Snellville, said the cameras do not make her feel safer.

“Security cameras are everywhere all of the time and crime still happens,” she said.

Other students find the cameras too Orwellian for comfort.

“It creeps me out to have people watching me,” said rising junior Rashida Allen-Come from Stone Mountain, who is only comfortable with being monitored in enclosed places.

Scott Childs, a junior from Albany, said the installation of the cameras does not surprise him as they are  in cities everywhere, even as far south as his hometown.

 Though Childs himself did not find downtown especially unsafe in the first place, he does think the cameras will have at least one important function.

 “Maybe if people realize the cameras are there, they’ll stop running red lights,” he said.