Have A Surveillance Camera? Cranford Police Want To Use It

CRANFORD, NJ - - Residents and business owners can partner with the Cranford Police to solve crimes, and all they need to do is fill out a form.

The Cranford Police Department is launching a new Community/Police Partnership Program through a virtual neighborhood watch program by creating a voluntary registry of business’ and homeowners’ surveillance cameras systems, utilized to catch criminals.

The Cranford Civilian Cam (CCC) Program, maps out the locations of the cameras, so officers can find possible evidence faster. The directory does not allow officers to tap into private cameras, and would only indicate where the cameras are located.

By registering the camera, the Department can quickly identify nearby cameras that may have captured criminal activity. After registering the camera, owners would only be contacted by the Cranford Police Department if there was a law enforcement related need in the vicinity of the security camera.

Police personnel, if necessary, may request to view the camera footage in order to assist in the investigation. The directory will be confidential and only accessible to law enforcement.

Many business owners and residents currently operate surveillance systems at their businesses and/or homes. As crimes occur nearby, they are not always aware that their system may have captured information that could help solve the crime, thus keeping the community safer, authorities said.

In turn, the police are also not always aware who may or may not have this potentially vital information. The Police Department is requesting residents and businesses across town to register their privately owned surveillance camera systems.

Using the geographic locations of the registered cameras, the Cranford Police Department will be able to directly e-mail or call citizens in an area in which a crime occurred. A standard e-mail may ask the citizen to check their video surveillance system for a specific date and time for video capturing a suspect, getaway car or a crime. If the citizen finds any video evidence, they can contact the Police Department to make arrangements for video retrieval.
Installing video surveillance is a great example of community-police partnerships and is something we highly value as a police agency serving our community.

Interested citizens can register their cameras by filling out a short application that is located on the website. The applications can also be picked up at the police department.

For more information, contact the CPD Community Policing Unit at 908-272-8989, or e-mail Officer Gregory Federici at g-federici@cranfordnj.org or Officer Ryan Gerrity at r-gerrity@cranfordnj.org or Detective Sergeant John Swandrak at jswandrak@cranfordnj.org.

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