Bordentown property owners with on-site security cameras are encouraged by local police officials to participate in a program aimed to help stymie crime.
The Bordentown Township Police Department recently issued a statement for residents to take part in a voluntary security camera registration program.
Police officials explained that this program allows residents and business owners to register the locations of their video surveillance systems with the department.
Police officials said that the aim of the program is that in the incident of an alleged crime, officials will then be able to quickly identify the locations of nearby cameras, which will help officers collect video evidence and follow up on leads.
This program is completely voluntary and the information will be utilized for police purposes only, according to the township police.
Bordentown Township Police Chief Brian Pesce said that program was initiated by the department in response to an increase in landowners installing video recording technology on their property, which he believes, when footage is voluntarily provided to officers, can assist with criminal activity investigations.
“What we have found is that more and more homeowners are equipping their homes with video surveillance systems,” Pesce reported. “When I first started [in the department], only businesses had them and they weren’t that common because they weren’t that affordable. Now, it seems like everyone is taking the initiative whether they have a home surveillance system, doorbell camera or something of that nature.
“[The camera footage] is really an asset to us in crime prevention, so we want to embrace that technology and list our residents’ homes,” Pesce explained.
The township police chief said that home and business owners who sign up for the program provide police officials with items such as immediate contact information as well as a description of their surveillance system, which is then entered into a database. Pesce said that the police have no access to camera footage in these systems whatsoever, and that the footage can only be reviewed upon permission from the home/business owner.
Pesce said that typically in most local burglaries, investigations can be timely and present multiple obstacles for officers such as door-to-door questioning and groundwork as well as having no contact information for nearby residences.
By then, Pesce said that alleged perpetrators can be long gone.
“[The program] is going to improve efficiency for my officers rather than do a door-to-door canvas, looking for people who have cameras,” he said. “If we have a database that we can go to quickly and know who has the cameras, where they are facing and what they record, we can reach out to these people in the database.
“You may not reach contact with [a home/business owner] for a day or two and by then, the perpetrator could have committed more crimes. If we can get instant information and footage right by from homeowners via email, it’s going to improve our efficiency and help our detective with the footwork they have to do, and clear cases quicker,” he said.
With immediate contact and possible evidence, Pesce also said that officers can potentially respond with an earlier arrest, which can lead to the retrieval of stolen property.
“If we can get footage back the same day and identify the person, we might be able to get their [stolen] property back,” he explained. “Sometimes you investigate something and don’t get the necessary evidence for a week or two later, and the hope of getting someone’s property back is unlikely.
“If we are able to reach out, get footage, make an identification and an arrest quickly, we can possibly recover property, deter crimes and the person is going to be incarcerated. It’s definitely an effort to embrace technology and improve efficiency in the speed to which we can respond to these incidents,” he said.
Even if there is an alleged crime at a neighbor’s residence, Pesce said that police can reach out to surrounding program members in the immediate area to inform them that there has been an incident.
Pesce said that officers can ask nearby program members to check their surveillance footage at an approximate time to see if the act was caught on their system for investigation, which he believes can benefit the community.
“It’s going to make a neighborhood safer and hopefully solve crimes that are happening,” he said. “It’s going to be a deterrent, and if perpetrators know that a neighborhood is covered with surveillance cameras, they are going to avoid it. It’s a win-win in my opinion.”
For more information on this program and to download the registration form, go to the services tab of the police department’s website at https://www.bordentowntownship.com/police_services.
