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Vol. LXI, No. 40
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Wednesday, October 3, 2007
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Vol. LXI, No. 40
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Wednesday, October 3, 2007
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County officials this week announced that Herrontown Woods Park, a 100-acre county park that has recently been under the microscope of the Princeton Township Police Department, could be a prime candidate for a new surveillance program that would install cameras in parks subject to increased levels of crime.
The move comes just two weeks after the arrests of a Princeton Borough man and a Montgomery Township man who were caught by undercover Township Police officers engaging in a sex act in the park. The arrests were similar to two made earlier this year, when an Edison man and a South Brunswick man were arrested and charged with lewdness.
The park, Township police said, is recognized as a locale for random sexual activity. Township police have increased surveillance of the area in recent months, following a string of complaints received by area residents. In both documented cases, the incidents occurred during the day, near a public trail.
In an interview Tuesday, Mercer County Executive Brian Hughes said that the county was embarking on an initiative that would increase security at high-risk county parks. “Clearly, Herrontown Woods would become one of those parks where we need to increase security,” he said, adding that recent infrastructural changes to other county parks, like the Trenton-Hamilton Marsh, have been in response to vandalism and other crimes.
“We started thinking about our more remote parks and what we can do to increase security,” Mr. Hughes said.
In Princeton Township, the county is considering the installation of a camera, along with a satellite uplink falling in the $40,000 range. The move, Mr. Hughes said, “would provide increased security without infringing on people’s rights. At least one camera would be placed in the parking area, which holds about 15 cars.
“We believe that this area would be more secure if this level of surveillance were to occur,” Mr. Hughes, a Township resident, said, adding that county public hearings would precede any installation. “But I would like to see this happen in a relatively short period of time.”
The County Sheriff’s Department, in conjunction with Princeton Township Police, would likely monitor any surveillance Mr. Hughes said.