The Toms River Police Department is committed to a productive partnership with the community. In an effort to expand that partnership and provide more comprehensive services to the community the Toms River Police Department is initiating Operation Watch Dog. This program encourages residents and businesses to register their privately owned home/business video surveillance in efforts to increase safety and reduce crime. The department recognizes that crimes can be committed at any place or time and that home/business video surveillance may have captured vital footage that could help solve crimes in our community. During a criminal investigation our officers are often unaware of the many residences and businesses that have surveillance systems who may have captured footage of value to the investigation. Having knowledge of the location of a surveillance system in the area of a crime could be instrumental in a successful resolution.
There are several benefits to registering with the Toms River Police Department Operation Watch Dog. It expedites the retrieval of footage from surveillance systems close to the crime scene in an effort to uncover criminal activity. It also reduces the number of officers assigned to canvass the area around a crime scene for operational surveillance systems. This allows officers assigned to the investigation to be deployed to other tasks in the investigation thereby enabling a higher degree of efficiency of allocated resources. Please note that this program does not give police the ability to tap into any home or business surveillance feeds.
If you are signed up for the Operation Watch Dog and a crime occurs in your neighborhood, you may be contacted by a Toms River Police Officer who would ask if you could examine the time frame in question for potential video footage. If your equipment was able to record pertinent information, we would arrange a convenient time and day to retrieve the footage from you.
Your participation in Operation Watch Dog always remains 100% voluntary and your personal information will be kept confidential and not for public dissemination. Only law enforcement personnel can view the surveillance footage.
Operation Watch Dog is just another useful tool which offers residents and businesses the opportunity to partner with the Toms River Police Department in the fight against crime throughout the township. If you would like to participate in this program residents and businesses are encouraged to register their cameras at no cost by filling out a short application below.
How it works:
Registration: This step is easy and takes just a few minutes to complete. You provide contact information and tell us where your cameras are located. There is no cost for registration.
Confirmation: Once the application is completed, a member of the Toms River Police Department who will follow up with you to confirm your information.
Call for Assistance: The Toms River Police will only contact you if there is a criminal incident in the area of your security cameras. Police personnel may request a copy of any video captured by your cameras which may be pertinent to the investigation.
Terms and Conditions:
Operation Watch Dog is created to partner up with our residents and businesses by working together as a team to combat criminal activity in your neighborhoods and business areas. By joining this program the registrants agree to the following Term and Conditions:
- Any video footage collected by the Toms River Police Department relating to criminal activity may be used in the investigation and as possible evidence.
- Video footage provided to the Toms River Police Department is reserved for Official Use Only.
- Under no circumstances shall registrants construe that they are acting as an agent/employee of the Toms River Police Department through the Operation Watch Dog program.
- When necessary the Toms River Police Department will contact you directly using the information provided to obtain security camera footage.
- You agree not to release any video footage or still images to the media without consulting with the Toms River Police Department.
Operation Watch Dog
-
Use the registration form below.
- A member of the Toms River Police Department will call you to confirm your information prior to entering into our data base
- You will only receive a call from the Toms River Police Department if there is a criminal incident in your area
Thank You for participating in the Operation Watch Dog!
Toms River Police Department
255 Oak Avenue, Toms River, New Jersey, 08753