What about some of the 'listers' or neighborhood groups install webcams themselves, so anyone can access them from the internet?

You could watch a loved one walk past points from the PATH to home!

They should use the quality of life fines to help supplement costs for new CCTV cameras.

People should not expect full privacy in a public place. However I do believe the public should have the right to review any data captured by these cameras. Perhaps this could fall under the FOIA (Freedom of Information Act).

Even more TV news on the trash dumping- This time ABC

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http://abclocal.go.com/wabc/story?section=local&id=5115262


Cameras help reduce crime in Jersey City

WABC Eyewitness News

(Jersey City - WABC, March 12, 2007) - Seven years ago, Jersey City police installed 68 closed circuit cameras to help fight violent crime.

But lately those cameras are catching something else, a crime that affects all of us.

New Jersey reporter Toni Yates has details.

The cameras are not only recording video, but watchful eyes are making a difference 24 hours a day.

If you're not looking for them, you barely notice them: Closed-circuit video cameras. They are part of Jersey City's neighborhood watch against crime.

"Monitoring, especially after stores close, and the avenue after-hours or early morning, I think it could do nothing but help," store owner Mark Ull said. "I have no problem with it."

The camera caught a worker illegally dumping a restaurant's garbage into a city receptacle, not once, but twice. The business was fined.

The images are monitored 24-hours a day in an operations room in an undisclosed facility. Police say the cameras have helped make Jersey City safer and more livable.

"We have made arrests on prostitution, drug dealing, there's been robberies, there's been homicides and aggravated assaults," Jersey City Deputy Police Director Juan Perez said. "It's a tremendous tool that law enforcement is using."

Nearly 70 cameras are already in place. Several dozen more are on order. And while many say the cameras are a good idea, no one is taking safety for granted.

"You still have to be alert," Jersey City resident Cheryl Mayrie said. "You still have to make sure you're looking behind your back."

The cameras have made such a huge impact in the last seven years that police say they're getting requests from residents asking that the camera be installed in their neighborhood.

They say the technology is too expensive to fulfill all the requests.

(Copyright 2007 WABC-TV)

From News12:

Camera eyes expanding crime watch in Jersey City

(03/08/07) JERSEY CITY - Closed circuit surveillance cameras are no longer used only to capture violent crimes in Jersey City.

According to Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) Deputy Director Juan Perez, the cameras will also be used to combat quality-of-life crimes. Perez says the types of crimes the CCTV hopes to catch are ?people in corners, individuals walking their dogs and not picking up, guys illegally parked? and other similar infractions.

CCTV is a neighborhood watch program funded by sales tax. The group is working hand in hand with the police department to catch any and all crimes. So far, there are a total of 68 cameras located in the north, south and west districts of Jersey City. CCTV is planning to install another 65 throughout the city?s streets.

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C- Very boring, failure to use punctuation

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Get one of these on the park on WAYNE STREET

Frankly CCTV is a disgusting invasion of privacy and not particularly effective at preventing crime, only moderately successful at prosecuting people. If you want to really reduce crime, start with adding more beat police, remove minor crime offenders like panhandlers, install more outdoor lighting, and enforce strict gun control laws.

CCTV only works well for trash violations not for crimes on personal property or persons!

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They basically made a bunch of excuses. The tape is still being used, they don't have anyone to review it, I wasn't qualified to use the machine, I didn't have the proper clearance to even get to the machine, the tapes are blurry so you can't make out the details anyway, it was at nght so you can't see much and probably a few more. This was years ago so I don't recall everything. After getting the runaround by three people I gave up.

At the time car break-ins were a problem near me (and maybe still are) so you'd think they'd take the opportunity to perhaps catch the responsible person, especially since I said I'd review the tape.

there's still public cans in the city? You'd never know from the continual sh1t pile left in front of my building nearly daily.... today's haul? a metal FORK AND SPOON. Oh, and, of course... 3 plastic bags of dog crap. again.

dude that that used to own blimpie's next to helen's pizza would regularly bring several LARGE bags of trash to my corner several blocks away from his store til one day i confronted him... it was not pretty. but he never came back.

Hurtle, what did the police have to say about that? Surely there is a way to have a court order that the tape be handed over. This is about the 10th time I have heard a story about tape of a crime not being handed over in Jersey City. Certainly I would expect someone who owns a security camera to not hand the footage out except under court order. But I would also expect a court to readily order this if there is good reason to believe that evidece of a crime is on the tape.

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I agree but at least they're doing something. My car was parked in view of one of the city's surveilance cameras. I parked it there because I thought the camera would provide extra security. It was broken into and they wouldn't even review the tape. I volunteered to do it and they still said no dice.

Chances are there were dumplings in that ilegal dumping.

man, i would think dumping ANYWHERE in public in JC would be illegal.

i mean, that's disgusting.

This is why the city keeps removing trash cans and the one or two that left on the street usually are over flowing spilling litter everywhere.

I love the arbitrary $106 fine. Hilarious.

Maybe we can fine Animal that for the stickers all over the place.

FAB: Did you read this part?

Jersey City Police Chief Tom Comey also advocated the use of CCTV cameras to combat "quality-of-life crimes," though he also emphasized their primary role is combating violent crime.

You have to be fcuking kidding me. Camera's for dumping trash in public trash cans, but Cops and City Hall don't have camera's to make our streets safer from being mugged, robbed or people with ass driving skills and total disregard for road rules. Stupid cop bosses and stupid council and a stupid use of resources that should be directed to more important issues.

All this effort makes me think it was personal or yes, racial - it would be no skill to work out who was dumping trash and simply wanted hard proof, it was the Chinese Restaurant.

Illegal dumping caught on tape

Wednesday, March 07, 2007
By ALI WINSTON
JOURNAL STAFF WRITER

Introduced seven years ago as a tool to help police fight violent crime, Jersey City cops have found a new use for closed-circuit cameras - combating illegal dumping in city garbage cans.

Last week, an employee of Central Wok was caught on tape putting garbage from the Chinese restaurant into a Central Avenue trash can. Cops reviewed the tape, saw the dumping and notified the city's Neighborhood Improvement Division, which issued a summons.

If found guilty, the business must pay a fine of at least $106; in this case, the restaurant's owners said they pleaded guilty and paid $200.

City officials said it was the first time CCTV cameras were used to enforce local waste disposal laws.

Mayor Jerramiah Healy lauded the initiative, citing improper disposal of business waste was a "persistent problem" in Jersey City that "wears down on the quality of life" for residents.

According to NID Director Larry Smith, black bags full of construction waste as well as household and business garbage left in public trash cans has been an ongoing problem that his department is working to eliminate, and CCTV provides another tool to enforce regulations about waste disposal.

"It makes perfect sense that we reach out to the Police Department to utilize their CCTV cameras to see if anyone would be found dumping," he said.

Jersey City Police Chief Tom Comey also advocated the use of CCTV cameras to combat "quality-of-life crimes," though he also emphasized their primary role is combating violent crime.