Politics

Newark Turns To 109 Cameras To Combat Crime

Manned Monitors Give Cops Near Instantaneous Footage Of Bad Guys As 1 Of N.J.'s Most Violent Cities Fights Back

NEWARK (CBS) ― Trying to reduce its sky-high crime rates, Newark is taking a lesson from nearby East Orange. Officials there managed to cut crime by 50 percent by keeping an "eye on crime."

While a criminal was flashing a gun and robbing a man during a drug transaction, a city surveillance camera was rolling on his every move and officers were watching and dispatching police to the scene.

"There's activity going on all day every day," communications clerk Elvis Lopez told CBS 2 HD. "It's sometimes overwhelming the stuff you see."

Lopez works in the new state-of-the-art Surveillance Operations Center. It's where the city is able to keep an eye on the streets through 109 cameras, strategically placed in crime-ridden areas.

"The cameras allow for near instantaneous eyes on the scenes," Mayor Cory Booker said. "This can be the difference between apprehension and escape for criminals, but more importantly it can mean the difference between life and death for the victims of the crime."

The mayor says the program, which was launched last summer when three college students were brutally murdered in a schoolyard, is reducing crime.

For example, recently on Lyons Avenue, video from one camera helped put away a high-ranking Bloods gang member.

Residents hope the new technology succeeds.

"I hope so," Clara Woods said. "I hope it will."

But they also question it.

"I think they are good ... [but] we're from the hood. Eventually people are going to climb up the poll and break them down," Saladin Brown said.

The system is mostly funded through private donations. The mayor hopes to get 50 more cameras in place by the end of the year.

The city also plans on using more cameras to video tape drivers who run red lights.

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