Cameras monitor abortion clinic

The Bellevue Police Department is keeping a close eye on the Abortion and Contraception Clinic of Nebraska.

After a Wichita, Kan., abortion provider was shot to death in May and before hundreds of abortion supporters and opponents from across the country protested in August outside Dr. LeRoy Carhart's clinic at 1002 W. Mission Ave., five high-tech cameras were installed to monitor the facility and its surroundings.

“It has helped us keep an eye on what's going on,” said Bellevue Police Chief John Stacey Jr. “We can monitor a situation as it builds so we can tell if it's going to become aggressive or passive, plus it lessens our presence.”

Carhart's clinic has been in the national spotlight since he said he would perform some late-term abortions after the May slaying of Dr. George Tiller, a Wichita abortion provider. Tiller, who was a friend and colleague of Carhart's, ran the Women's Health Care Services clinic in Wichita, which is now closed.

Carhart said he would peform late-term abortions in Bellevue only in cases where the fetus could not survive outside the womb and until he could open a clinic elsewhere in the Midwest.

Previously, when women sought abortions past the 22nd week of pregnancy, Carhart referred them to Tiller.

In July, Bellevue police officers met with counterparts in Wichita to learn how to manage being at the epicenter of a national issue.

That's where the idea of video surveillance came about, Stacey said. He said Wichita used a similar security measure.

Stacey said the cameras, which cost about $970 a month, are efficient and “handy.” Officers can monitor activity at and around the clinic from the police station and can respond immediately if necessary.

“All of our staff has been happy with it,” he said. ‘It's saving us a lot of man-hours.”

Stacey said that recently, there have been only minor disturbances involving protesters outside the clinic.

“The cameras are our eyes up there,” he said.

Carol Blood, president of the Bellevue City Council, said the video surveillance is a cost-effective way to address the issue.

“The bottom line is that there is potential for people in the surrounding area to get hurt, based on past incidents at other clinics,” she said. “I support this proactive approach because the safety and security of Bellevue residents is paramount.”

Carhart has been a lightning rod on the abortion issue in Nebraska and nationally. In a lawsuit, he challenged the 1997 Nebraska law banning a particular type of abortion known medically as intact dilation and extraction. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down the ban in 2000.

Carhart also challenged a federal ban of the procedure in 2003. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal ban in 2007.

On Thursday, he said he appreciated that Bellevue police are taking a proactive approach. He said that the police cameras — along with his own cameras — have been able to document disturbances in which police reports have been filed.

“I'm very thankful for it,” he said. “I think anything that they do that helps is fine.”

Contact the writer:

444-1336, leia.mendoza@owh.com

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