A network of surveillance cameras in various locations throughout Newark, NJ will enable people to monitor these locations for criminal activity. The program, the Citizen Virtual Patrol, has been described by local leaders as “a block watch on steroids”.  The project was launched last Thursday, along with the announcement that there are now 62 cameras, available around the city, for registered users and it is expected that soon the city will have 125 cameras.

“Using it is an opportunity for residents in their neighborhood to be looking at everyday things in their community, not just police looking at occurrences that are accidental, or hurricanes, dramatic experiences,” Mayor Ras J. Baraka explained. Baraka said that it will allow the public “to immediately act upon any suspicious or criminal activity while it’s occurring.”

In order to participate, residents need a desktop or laptop computer and it will need to be registered through the Newark Police Division’s website. Once in the system and set up to monitor the cameras, participants can report crimes and critical situations. Newark  is also planning to develop a corresponding mobile app.

Newark is New Jersey’s largest city. With a population of over 280,000, it has one of the highest violent crime rates in the country. According to FBI data, the rate of crime is approximately 42.8 violent crimes per 10,000 residents. Newark is also among the top 15 murder capitals in the U.S.

The city was awarded the cameras as part of a $850,000 grant from the Department of Justice received last year under the federal SMART Policing Initiative. City expansion of public surveillance cameras is becoming a trend across the country. For instance, Police departments in Chicago have invested in a similar program in an attempt to rein in the crime rate.

As you may have surmised, not everyone is happy with this new development; not the least of which is the New Jersey branch of the ACLU. The civil liberties organization finds Newark's new program to be disturbing and an avenue for abuse.

The ACLU-NJ called on the City of Newark to consider the consequences and put an end to the mass live streaming of the surveillance feeds. The ACLU advised that the city should instead be focused on the federal consent decree in regard to the police department's civil rights violations.  A Department of Justice investigation was then cited, by the ACLU, in which 75 percent of the stops in Newark did not have a constitutional basis. While acknowledging that Newark is not alone in rolling out a city surveillance program, the ACLU said that Newark would be among the first  in the U.S. to broadcast real-time, high-resolution video feeds aimed at encouraging people to snitch on members of the community.

The following statement was made by ACLU-NJ Executive Director Amol Sinha:

“Newark is crowdsourcing its police force when it should be focusing on how its police department can work within the bounds of the Constitution and fulfill its obligations under the consent decree with the Justice Department. Newark should consider the consequences of communal, livestreaming mass surveillance and end it before more people are put at risk.

Especially in a city that has come under federal monitoring because of unlawful searches, thefts committed by police, and other egregious abuses, Newark should not be looking to untrained civilians on the internet to assume the role of protecting public safety. The role of government isn’t to transmit a 24-7 camera feed of your block to allow the world to see when you leave your home, when you come back, and who comes to visit, and it certainly isn’t where our tax dollars should go."

The full ACLU Press Release can be found here.