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No. 13 Vol. 4
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February 28, 2017
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Wayne Township Police Strives For Safer Community Through ShareCam
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By Henry M. Holden hose who watch the evening news are familiar with the convenience store robbery. An individual, usually holding a weapon, robs the store and unknowingly his face and crime are caught on a surveillance tape. About a year ago, Wayne Township Police Department (WPD) Detective Dennis Ferray, and some of his colleagues attended an FBI presentation on terrorism. Part of the presentation involved home and business surveillance systems. “They mentioned that
this technology was being used in large cities,” said Ferray. ”I thought if we could scale it down we could use it in our community. I did some research, and then custom-tailored a program to meet our needs. We’re talking about linking homeowners and business private security cameras to our network.” Last June, Ferray started “Community ShareCam,” a safety program which allows both residents and businesses to partner with the Wayne Police to fight crime by registering their home/business surveillance camera systems on the
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township website. “Once they sign up, we send them window stickers and door stickers saying that the premises are registered with the Wayne Police,” said Ferray. “This greatly enhances our ability to track crime,” he said. “Most often, when there is a neighborhood crime, we go to homes but the people are not home. So, we must return until we can get them at home, and get some statements from them. “This way, if they have cameras, and they sign up with us, we know how to get in touch with them,” he explained. “Their cameras are looking out at their own property but at the same time they may catch somebody suspiciously walking around, or a car that seems to be cruising the neighborhood. Or, ideally, we see somebody committing a crime within camera range. This footage will help establish leads, identify suspects, and save
valuable investigative time. The cameras have infrared so they can see in the dark, which is important since most robberies of this type happen at night.” Equipment used is inexpensive and easy to install. Ferray says the equipment does not have to be sophisticated. “It can be anything from a Ring Doorbell, to a fullscale surveillance system. Some people have motion detector cameras, and others have cameras on 24-hours a day. “Home surveillance systems have gotten less expensive over the years,” he said. “You can go to a big box store and get a six-toeight camera surveillance system for about $300. And they are simple enough that the homeowner can install it. “Here’s the way it works,” said Ferray. “When somebody signs up on our Wayne township website, I get an email. I take the email and send a confir-
mation back to the person. I enter their information into our database; name, address, phone number, email, number of cameras and how long the video is saved. “That interfaces with dispatch and pinpoints their location on a map,” he said. “Let’s say we get a burglary at 123 Main St. We type in that location, and it’ll bring up the location of the cam-
eras registered in that area. “If there are any, that may be helpful to us in solving the crime,” he continued. “It may tell us how the person got into the neighborhood, and how they got out of the neighborhood. We’d be looking for vehicles, license plates, anything that can identify the criminal, or anything that can give us a lead.” continued on page 2