The installation of additional cameras at Spanish Springs Town Square is being planned in an effort to beef up security.
The Village Center Community Development District is planning to enter into a 10-year agreement with the Developer to allow the placement of cameras on downtown buildings owned by Citizens First Bank, Lazy B Cattle Venture and The Villages Operating Company.Â
The VCCDD will be responsible for maintaining and storing all the data collected through the cameras.
Law enforcement increasingly relies on surveillance to capture criminals. It would have been helpful in some recent crimes at Spanish Springs Town Square:
• A Village of Sabal Chase woman reported in November that her golf cart was damaged and a nasty note left for her in what appears to have been a parking dispute.
• A Villager reported that his golf cart was stolen in November while parked at Spanish Springs.
• Golf clubs were reportedly stolen from a Villager’s golf cart in October.
In addition, there have been some notorious incidents at Spanish Springs Town Square in which surveillance could have proven helpful to law enforcement:
• McCall’s Tavern employee Austin Stevens lost his life in 2016 after a battle with two teens who had reportedly taunted Stevens and his co-workers. Stevens died a few days later. The two teens were arrested, but ultimately the case was dropped by the prosecutor’s office.
• A popular line dance instructor in The Villages was ordered into anger management after she admitted to punching another woman at the square in 2015. The line dance instructor and her friends maintained the other woman instigated the altercation, however she was never charged.
