Townships around New Jersey are asking their residents and businesses to get onboard.
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In an era where nearly everything is caught on camera, law enforcement officials around New Jersey are increasingly encouraging businesses and residents to register their security camera systems with their local police.
So when there's a crime, police can quickly and easily tap into the system and hopefully catch criminals in the act.
And while cities where crime is more rampant, like Newark and Trenton, have taken similar steps, suburban and rural areas around the state are also looking to harness the collective power of this technology.
The latest is Monmouth County, where Sheriff Shaun Golden announced the countywide program, "Operation Watchdog," Wednesday morning outside of iPlay America in Freehold.
In February, Denville announced its "Virtual Crime Watch" initiative, which was modeled after Voorhees and Hanover Township. In Gloucester County, police in Mantua and Washington Township also have similar programs.
Golden said his program -- inspired by the Operation Watchdog program in Toms River, one of the largest municipalities in Ocean County -- is the first countywide initiative to embrace this new public-private partnership.
"Surveillance cameras, as you know, are all around our communities and neighborhoods," Golden said. "They're a tool used to fight crime and registering them with Operation Watchdog will save members of law enforcement time when it comes to determining and canvassing areas that have camera locations where there is crime or some type of criminal activity."
Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden, flanked by local and county officials, announces his new Operation Watchdog program. (Alex Napoliello | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)
The program is voluntary, Golden emphasized.
For interested businesses like iPlay, an indoor amusement and entertainment facility, the owners log onto the Monmouth County Sheriff's Office website and provide the department with information on the locations of their surveillance cameras.
Rook coffee, which has 11 locations in Monmouth County, is also registered with the program, Golden said.
The camera location appears as a red dot on a virtual map of the county that police officers and dispatch communicators can access. The information is not available to the public, authorities said.
"This will make a difference in helping us solve crime," Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni said. "It's the electronic version of neighborhood watch."
Surveillance video, Gramiccioni explained, is also beneficial in the courtroom, where juries have come to expect to see video and audio evidence.
According to a research report released in April by Strategy Analytics, the smart home surveillance market will exceed $9.7 billion in consumer spending by 2023. Spending on video doorbells, the fastest growing segment of the industry, is expected to reach $1.4 billion by 2023, up from $500 million in 2018, the report noted.
Law enforcement has capitalized on the growing market, sharing videos from homeowners of suspected burglars snooping around homes.
In Howell, a Monmouth County township of approximately 50,000 residents, police Chief Andrew Kudrick said police received a 911 call in September from a resident who was watching a burglary happening in his home from work. Police posted the video of the two suspects on Facebook and, with information received from tips, were able to make an arrest days later, Kudrick said.
"Technology plays a major role in a significant number of our investigations," he said. "Social media is a huge tool."
One of the most popular video doorbell systems, Ring, has a Neighbors smartphone app, where residents can get real-time crime safety alerts from the people who live around them. This creates a web of evidence for law enforcement to track the steps of a suspected burglar.
A bill that was signed into law by former Gov. Chris Christie in 2015 paved the way for the creation of these programs. The legislation said a municipality can enact an ordinance to establish a private outdoor video surveillance camera registry. It also laid out guidelines as to what information law enforcement can request.
"The ordinance shall provide that registration of a camera does not constitute a waiver of any rights granted under the Constitution of the United States or the State of New Jersey," the law states.
When the bill was first introduced, it would have made the security camera registration mandatory. But the language of the bill was scaled back to make it voluntary.
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In Morris Township, a township with approximately 22,000 residents in Morris County, around 60 residents have registered their cameras since the township's police department started promoting its program in the past year, Sgt. Heather Glogolich said.
Gogolich said the program paid dividends immediately, helping officers to identify that three suspects were involved in a shooting in December. The registry also helps aid officers investigating car crashes and other non-criminal incidents.
"If we know people have cameras we'll automatically go to them when we're canvassing," she said. "Most people are willing to help."
The Newark program, however, goes a bit further. It allows residents to access cameras placed by police around the city. Officials in the state's largest city say being transparent about the locations of the cameras helps deter crime, but the American Civil Liberties Union contends it's an invasion of privacy.
Golden, the Monmouth County sheriff, addressed those concerns by explaining how law enforcement is not invading anyone's surveillance system.
"There's no misuse or abuse here," he said. "The business owners and the residents, they own their camera systems. If at some point, they don't want to cooperate ... that's fine."
Alex Napoliello may be reached at anapoliello@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @alexnapoNJ. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
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