VIDALIA — Crime is getting a little less anonymous in Vidalia.

This week, utility crews have been quietly installing video surveillance cameras at select locations in the city.

“The cameras are in a utility box, and you can’t determine they’re there just by looking at them,” Police Chief Ronnie G. “Tapper” Hendricks said.

The cameras were brought in and were placed at specific locations to fight a recent spate of crimes, which included vandalism of machinery.

Hendricks said he didn’t want to say where the cameras are because it would tip off the criminals about the investigation.

He did say, however, that the cameras have been borrowed from the Regional Organized Crime Information Center, a government entity in Tennessee.

“The ROCIC is a government entity that provides tools for law enforcement,” he said. “If I needed cameras for surveillance or any type of police equipment I am not able to put my hands on at this moment, they loan it to you.”

The borrowed cameras are tied into the utility system and have a hard drive that records continuously.

“If something happens and we want to see the video, we have to retrieve it and put it on a computer,” Hendricks said. “All we have to do is to get the utility company to bring it here and we have (the suspects) on tape.”

The loaned cameras are a temporary fix, but Hendricks said the police department is waiting to receive bids for its own permanent camera system.

The Vidalia police department was allocated $96,524 in stimulus funds designated for law enforcement, and Hendricks said at the time it would be used in part for the camera system.

The Vidalia Riverfront is already monitored by video surveillance.