New Jersey County Fights Crime with Private Surveillance Cameras

New Jersey County Fights Crime with Private Surveillance Cameras

Monmouth County has launched their crime fighting initiative called Operation Watch Dog.

  • By Sydny Shepard
  • Oct 26, 2018

Law enforcement in Monmouth County, New Jersey are teaming up with residents and business owners to create a network of surveillance cameras to enhance security around the county and help fight crime.

The initiative, called Operation Watch Dog, works like this: Law enforcement are alerted about crime in a certain area of the county and then are dispatched, per usual, but with the Operation Watch Dog, law enforcement are also able to check the area on a map and see which cameras are registered close to the scene of the crime. This alerts officers and lets them know where in the area they should go to view video surveillance footage.

"How many times have you seen on social media that someone has some type of footage or some type of still picture from a video doorbell of someone stealing packages or someone creating vandalism," Monmouth County Sheriff Shan Golden said to a local news station. "Certainly this is what this is all about. Tell the officer, so instead of him going knocking door to door saying, "Hey do you have something we can view?' it is real-time information."

Through the Operation Watch Dog registry, Law enforcement say they can expedite criminal investigations, especially since it is a countywide program.

The Sheriff's Office is careful to explain that this is not a real-time monitoring program. The authorities will only tap into video surveillance streams if they believe there is a crime captured by the camera. Also, the system is optional, county residents can decide if they want to be part of the program or not.

"It's a completely voluntary program," Andrew Calvo, assistant director of IT at Monmouth County Sheriff's Office said. "Police are not going to be monitoring or see your cameras on live video. It's only for a case of investigatory need. Even if there is a need for the camera, they are going to ask for your permission before they come on to your property or even review the video."

The county already has over 300 cameras registered in the program at 30 different addresses, which they say are mostly businesses.

About the Author

Sydny Shepard is the Executive Editor of Campus Security & Life Safety.

Featured

  • First Responders Give NIST Their Communications Tech Wish Lists

    First Responders Give NIST Their Communications Tech Wish Lists

    Our first responders have spoken. An extensive research project conducted by experts at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reveals what our country’s police, fire, emergency medical and 911 dispatch responders think about the communications technology they use on a regular basis and how they would like developers to improve it in the future. Read Now

  • Study Finds U.S. Enterprises Hit by Short-staffed Security Operations Centers

    Study Finds U.S. Enterprises Hit by Short-staffed Security Operations Centers

    ManageEngine, the enterprise IT management division of Zoho Corporation, recently announced results from its new study, Cloud Security Outlook 2023. The study found that enterprises have a limited number of analysts running their security operations centers (SOCs) and are deploying multiple tools in an attempt to address their cloud security challenges. Read Now

  • Report: More Than Half of Organizations Have Experienced an Insider Threat in the Past Year

    Report: More Than Half of Organizations Have Experienced an Insider Threat in the Past Year

    Gurucul, a provider of solutions in the Next Generation SIEM market, and Cybersecurity Insiders, a 600,000+ member online community for information security professionals, recently released its annual 2023 Insider Threat Report. Overall, results indicate insider threats are a top concern at organizations of all kinds; only 3% of respondents surveyed are not concerned with insider risk. Read Now

  • ISC West Is Two Months Away

    ISC West Is Two Months Away

    The annual “vacation” to Las Vegas is less than two months away. I anticipate it will be an amazing show, and furthermore, I expect the show hall to be teeming with interested security professionals. Read Now

    • Industry Events
Most   Popular

Featured Cybersecurity

New Products

  • D-Tools System Integrator (SI) Software

    D-Tools System Integrator (SI) Software

    D-Tools Inc. has announced the availability of System Integrator version 16, which adds powerful new project and service management capabilities to its award-winning, end-to-end business management solution. 3

  • QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC)

    The latest Qualcomm® Vision Intelligence Platform offers next-generation smart camera IoT solutions to improve safety and security across enterprises, cities and spaces. The Vision Intelligence Platform was expanded in March 2022 with the introduction of the QCS7230 System-on-Chip (SoC), which delivers superior artificial intelligence (AI) inferencing at the edge. 3

  • LiftMaster Garage Door Opener

    LiftMaster Garage Door Opener

    LiftMaster Transforms the Garage Door Opener Into a Sleek Smart Home Device That Does More Than Open and Close the Garage Door 3