Gloucester Twp. installs camera to curb vandalism

A little over two years ago, Gloucester Township began to turn land under the Route 42 overpass in the Blenheim section into a community-friendly bike path by cleaning up debris and painting over graffiti.

The plan half-worked. Cyclists used the area, but the trash and graffiti came back.

"It's disheartening," said Cpl. Sean Grannan, the township police community relations officer. "We paint over [the graffiti], and the day after, it's destroyed again."

To rectify the problem, township officials, with the support of Mayor David Mayer, have launched a policing strategy aimed largely at stopping the graffiti. They can now see what's going on in the area 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

On Aug. 4, the township installed a high-tech camera on the underside of the overpass to catch lawbreakers in the act. Officials also are drafting an ordinance that would hold parents liable for graffiti by their children.

"We want people to know that we have zero tolerance," Mayer said.

The mayor said he was confident the township council would pass the ordinance, but said the town would accept manual labor to clean up the site in lieu of monetary compensation from parents and juveniles charged.

"It's about being accountable for your actions," he said.

The camera concept was proposed in March at one of the township's weekly Quality of Life meetings, a panel of township officials pooling resources.

The Flashcam 880k - a solar-powered, motion-activated device that captures high-resolution 12-megapixel photos and costs $6,500 per unit - will not only catch graffiti artists in the act, but also monitor illegal dumping, theft, and other wrongdoing, Mayer said.

Around 7 p.m. Aug. 9, the Flashcam captured two male juveniles in an area where graffiti was found the next day. It aided an investigation by the Criminal Investigation Unit, which ended in charges of criminal mischief against them.

Mayer said the township was buying two more Flashcams, which will be used in areas prone to illegal dumping, trespassing, and other vandalism.

Steve Hillsman, president of Q-Star Technology, manufacturer of Flashcam, said the system is in use in just about every state. Philadelphia and Barrington in Camden County are among the local municipalities that use the technology to deter graffiti. Voorhees is considering installing Flashcams.

Mayer called the new form of policing a "proactive approach - a means to keep the 70,000 Gloucester residents safe and content."

"We are out there stopping the problem before it starts," he said. "We want people to know we are watching them. We want to stop crime before they think it's OK."