Cedar Grove Police Roll Out Virtual Neighborhood Watch Program

Using a mix of common-sense advice, humor and actual footage from the arrests of two recent burglary suspects, Cedar Grove Police officers demonstrated the finer points of securing your home from criminals at a community workshop at Township Hall Thursday night.

The workshop was put together by the police in an attempt to teach residents how to shore up their home security to prevent becoming a victim themselves following a regional winter spike in home burglaries, including 15 in the township since November.

To start the evening, Chief Richard Vanderstreet emphasized that despite the recent uptick, Cedar Grove is still a safe place to live.

"Despite these increases, Cedar Grove is still a very safe community, a good place to live and a good place to raise a family. Our low violent crime rates continue to be historically low, and our streets are safe to walk," he said.

Abour 50 residents attended the workshop, during which Crime Prevention Officer Stephen Baird, Lt. Joe Cirasa and Det. Sgt. John Kennedy each used multimedia slideshows demonstrating proper door lock selection, how to deny would-be burglars hiding places on your property and how to create the illusion that you are at home.

A portion of the presentation attempted to illustrate the realities of investigating a crime scene as compared to overly-dramatized, Hollywood-portrayals of investigators in action, what the officers dubbed "the CSI-Effect"

Det. Sgt. John Kennedy made this point with a video montage showing scenes from CSI-type shows with investigators huddled around a computer monitor, magically enhancing a blurry surveillance image using nonexistent computer technology, each following the well-used premise that just about any piece of digital evidence can be "enhanced" by computers to bring it into view.

"We can't enhance it," Kennedy said after the presentation, drawing a laugh from the crowd. "If the pixel isn't there, we cannot create it."

Next, Lt. Joseph Cirasa described the new Virtual Neighborhood Watch Program, which seeks to harness surveillance equipment already in place in an effort to broaden the reach of the police department's existing capabilities, and create a self-sustaining virtual network of cameras.

"What's great about it is it's existing. It's not some pie in the sky thing we have to put in next year's budget, this is up and running now, it's here for you. You can register, it's sustainable. If you're not at your house, a neighbor's camera or a businesses camera down the street could end up solving your burglary," he said.

This kind of cooperation between residents, Cirasa pointed out, is what led to the of two burglary suspects early last month, and similar cooperation in the future could prevent more residents from being victims.

For residents or businesses interested in registering their alarm system or security cameras with the Cedar Grove Police, and join in the Virtual Neighborhood Watch, can fill out the attached form and return it to the police station.