Glen Alpine moves forward with surveillance upgrades, tracking for town vehicles

The Glen Alpine Board of Aldermen took steps Monday evening to increase surveillance around town, specifically around a town-owned multipurpose building and the Downtown Glen Alpine Park.

“We’ve read the paper the past week. There’s a lot of things that can happen anytime, and any type of supervision we provide in our parks when we don’t have police presence there is going to do nothing but help us,” Mayor Pro Tempore Luke Boone said.

The bodies of Carla and Raheim Murray were recently found buried in the area of Simpson Field in the Glen Alpine town limits. A Burke County Parks and Recreation employee found the couple after they were allegedly murdered by Tosha Lee Lewis and Jamar Quarmaine Propst. Simpson Field, south of U.S. 70, is managed by Burke County. The Glen Alpine Downtown Park is north of U.S. 70 at the intersection of Linville and Bridge streets and owned by the town.

The surveillance work was underway long before the findings of the Murrays. In November 2025, the board voted to have Digital Eyes Surveillance, LLC assess the town’s existing door access system, cameras, and IT equipment to see what could be utilized for an improved surveillance and security system.

On Monday evening, the board voted to amend the budget for $9,270.06 worth of upgraded cameras in the downtown park area and the brown building, which sits at the intersection of West Main and London streets. The town purchased the property in late 2024 and has since been exploring how to best make use of the space, potentially hosting farmers markets and more.

GPS TRACKING FOR TOWN VEHICLES

The board also reviewed three estimates for GPS tracking town vehicles, including quotes from Linxup, Azuga, and Verizon Wireless. Boone said the intention is to protect the town and its employees while also having accountability.

“We won’t be able to know necessarily the parameters where someone is every minute of their waking hour,” Boone said. “It’s just so Luke can’t steal the town Hummer and take it to Myrtle Beach and not come back.”

Linxup offers a three-year contract for 10 vehicles at $200 per month or $2,400 annually, Verizon Wireless costs $189.50 per month, and Boone noted that the board would have to get more information from Azuga.

Boone said he was originally against installing GPS tracking in town vehicles because he felt like the board should be able to trust town employees. However, there was an incident in town where an officer crashed into a home in Glen Alpine back in 2024, so Boone said it would have been ideal to have more detailed information at the time.

Police Chief Kirk Penley asked if Burke County dispatch would be able to monitor the potential new GPS tracking because he currently uses a free service from the county that allows dispatch and other officers to see where he’s at in an emergency. However, the rest of his officers do not have access, and it doesn’t include speed notifications.

“If dispatch can’t monitor that GPS, then if my officer’s out on a call, and he gets involved in a shooting or something, that means the other vehicle isn’t going to know exactly where he’s at,” Penley said.

The tracking would be installed in police vehicles, fire vehicles, brush trucks, dump trucks, and other public works vehicles. Boone also suggested that the board outline rules for town vehicles in a policy.

The board voted to move forward with Linxup because Mayor Kevin Herron expressed familiarity with the company throughout his work experience. He also noted that the company is based in the United States.

“I don’t think we should sit up here every day going ‘who’s going where’ with it,” Boone said. “But at the end of the day, we’ve got to look at keeping everything protected, everybody safe, and us free from liability.”

OTHER BOARD ACTIONS:

• The board opened a public hearing to signal interest in applying for Community Development Block Grant funding within the next year. Kyle Case of the Western Piedmont Council of Governments noted that the federal money can be used for projects involving neighborhood revitalization, economic development, infrastructure, community housing, demolition of publicly dilapidated buildings in order to create reusable industrial sites, and disaster recovery.
• The board agreed to surplus several items, including a pressure washer and a flatbed truck. Herron also suggested having a Conex storage container for more fire and police departments storage so that the brown building can be used to host events and more, though there were no official decisions.