Greenbelt’s New Call Boxes Are Almost Ready

Residents should be able to use the soon, once the electronic and phone hookups have been completed.

“We’re getting close,” Greenbelt Assistant City Manager David Moran said.

Once the call boxes are active, people in trouble or trying to report suspicious activity will be able to push the help button located on each box’s panel and alert the police.

The boxes at the and near have been installed, but need phone line hookups before they can become active. Moran stressed that they are not operating yet and that no one should rely on them for help prematurely. When they are active, he said, it will be clear because their blue lights will be on.

These two call boxes are accompanied by surveillance cameras that will send digital images of nearby areas to the police. The city wants the cameras to not only capture footage of the call box areas but also to watch over the vicinity.

The third new box will be located on Metro Access Drive, but for now a cement pedestal marks its spot. The call box is constructed, but the city won’t put it into place until a power line is run out to it. Afterward, they will get a phone line run out as well.

At this point, the city wants to get phone lines run to all three boxes at the same time. If running the power line to the Metro call box gets further delayed, though, it may consider running phone lines to the two boxes in the Springhill Lake area first.

Unlike the other boxes, the Metro call box will not have a surveillance camera. The expense of running the high-speed Internet connection necessary for a camera feed was prohibitive, Moran said.

The three new boxes will bring the tally up to four, as an active call box with a surveillance camera has already been in place on the Greenbriar side of the Spellman Overpass.