Newark Mayor Ras Baraka is continuing his administration’s focus on smart technologies to broadly improve the City of Newark by utilizing surveillance technology to implement safety initiatives. On April 26th the Mayor joined with Public Safety Director Anthony F. Ambrose to announce the launch of the Citizen Virtual Patrol that will engage local citizens with the use surveillance technology to improve the safety of their neighborhoods.
The Citizen Virtual Patrol system is deploying 62 surveillance cameras that will allow community members to virtually patrol their neighborhoods and to assist police in deterring criminal activity. The initial base will grow to 125 cameras that will include live monitoring by Newark Police personnel in the near future. The system will also offer users access via mobile phones.
“This invaluable technology puts a real-time crime reporting tool in the hands of every concerned community member,” Mayor Baraka said. “Citizen Virtual Patrols allow residents to immediately act upon any suspicious or criminal activity while it’s occurring. This will result in safer neighborhoods and a stronger partnership between police and the community in safeguarding the City of Newark.”
The project is being funded through a combination of sources that includes the Newark Police Division’s budget, an Urban Areas Security Initiative grant, a Justice Assistance Grant, and a forthcoming Urban Areas Security Initiative grant.
The cameras are made by Panasonic, whose US headquarters is in Newark. They do not have facial recognition, or human or vehicle tracking capabilities. They are meant to assist a concerned citizen in reporting activity in their neighborhood by accessing the Newark Police Division’s website at: npd.newarkpublicsafety.org via a desktop or laptop computer. They are able to view the surveillance cameras based on an icon map or list of intersections and report what they have observed.
“Equipping concerned community members with the ability to pinpoint exactly when and where suspicious, criminal or quality of life incidents are occurring empowers more people to play a more active role in neighborhood watch,” Director Ambrose said.
A list of where the cameras will be used were included in the press announcement.
