The Camden County, N.J., police are adding to their already expansive, multi-million dollar high-tech surveillance net with a new program, relying on the city’s most abundant resource — its residents.
Orlando Cuevas, assistant chief of Camden County Police Metro Division told NJ.com, “Let’s face it — you can have all the police you want out there seven days a week, but you’re still not going to know all the crime out there in the neighborhood like a resident does,” he went on to say, “We see it as a kind of interactive blog with the police, where the residents can contact us, and we can reach out to them with alerts.”
Calling it a “virtual neighborhood watch,” the police two weeks ago launched a new website that allows residents to anonymously alert officers of crimes happening in real time. Dubbed “iCan” — Interactive Community Alert Network — the program supplies residents with online images from the department’s more than 120 CCTV cameras, and allows officers to directly reply to residents via an online chat feature.