After more than a year in the making, Suffolk County has finally launched a 10-camera pilot program to determine how effective security cameras are in reducing crime and apprehending criminals. The "Safe Communities Initiative", which began recording on July 1 in Huntington Station, is the result of a task force created by Legislative Majority Leader Jon Cooper (D-Huntington). If the pilot program's findings prove as promising as Cooper believes they will, security cameras on public streets in high-crime areas could become another weapon in the Suffolk County Police Department's crime-fighting arsenal.

In January 2006, Cooper's legislative colleagues unanimously approved his proposal to create a 12-member task force to study the issue. In order to make sure all viewpoints were represented, Cooper designated slots not only for experts from the police department and the district attorney's office, but he also brought on board civic leaders from groups like the NAACP and members from the business community.

"It was always important to me that whatever the task force recommended, consensus had to come from not only those who might man the cameras, but also from those people who could have to live with the cameras on their streets and in their neighborhoods," says Cooper.

The 6-page report issued by the task force took testimony from a variety of experts and thoroughly examined what types of monitoring technologies are most effective and most widely used by other municipalities nationwide. This included a firsthand inspection of a fiber-optic based surveillance camera system already in use on a five-mile stretch of Jersey City, New Jersey. While task force members liked the technology, they weren't crazy about the price tag. At cost of more than $3 million, members felt the application of fiber optics in Suffolk County would be cost prohibitive.

The task force also took on the most contentious issue associated with security cameras, live monitoring versus recorded. Live monitoring, as the name suggests, means having the images viewed by police personnel in real time. While live monitoring allows police to respond to crimes while they are actually happening, it is the most expensive type of monitoring and the most controversial.

Ultimately, members found what would become the foundation of the pilot program right here in Suffolk.

While most civic improvement groups limit their activities to community beautification, not so with the Huntington Station Business Improvement District Association (BID). The BID boasts its own security camera program. Established in 2004, the district runs from the Big H shopping Center to Jericho Turnpike and includes parts of West Hills Road and Depot Road.

Although inconspicuous and uncelebrated, the BID security cameras have already been successful in assisting police during the investigation of various crimes including several car crash investigations, the illicit use of stolen credit cards, stabbings, and even a shooting.

As treasurer of the 15-member organization, Brad Rosen, who owns and operates an athletic clothing-manufacturing firm in Huntington Station, was assigned to develop a security plan for the BID.

"Initially, I had thought of hiring an off-duty police officer to patrol the district in a car," says Rosen. "But I saw no end to the funding that would require, so I decided to look into installing cameras."

That initial investment three years ago of $18,000 was enough to purchase 3 cameras. Four years later, the BID has invested a total of $60,000 into their now 10-camera program. The cost of the cameras, and support equipment, are financed with funds generated from a property tax levy on businesses within the district.

"I'm thrilled that the task force was able to choose an area that's representative of Suffolk's urban character while also saving taxpayer dollars by using a preexisting public-private partnership as a funding mechanism," says Cooper.

Affixed on different buildings along the New York Avenue and Depot Road corridors, the cameras are linked to a computer monitoring station at the BID headquarters located in Huntington Station. Each location maintains an indoor Digital Video Recorder (DVR), which saves all captured images. Recording 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, the cameras are programmed to regularly sweep 50-yard sections of their assigned locale. So, not only do they view the immediate area around the business but they also capture activity on roadways and public areas within their anchored vicinity.

"In Huntington Station there is a lot of crime," states William Ahern, President and Owner of Ahern's Landscape Company on Pulaski Road in Huntington Station. "I really believe that implementing this security camera pilot program will be vital to helping the police keep an eye on things and keep people in line."

The pilot program will run for 18 months. Before its launch, task force members took great pains to design a strict set of protocols for the use of the cameras. The only persons who will be authorized to view the images will be specifically assigned officers of the SCPD's Second Precinct, select members of the BID and the police department's Electronics Investigations Unit. Located at police headquarters in Yaphank, unit members have the ability to access images on the BID recorders via the internet. The images can be saved as digital media files and will be available only when specifically requested by primary investigative officers assigned to a case involving an image captured by one of the cameras.

While the BID cameras are capable of live monitoring, the task force stipulations will only allow SCPD to use them in recorded mode. So, if a crime is reported that a BID camera might have recorded, officers will request to view the footage to determine what, if anything, was captured. SCPD's Second Precinct Crime Section and Detective Squad will maintain records documenting the number, types and locations of crimes recorded on the DVRs. In addition, the number of arrests made and investigations aided by the presence of the cameras will also be documented for the final report. That assessment is expected to be completed sometime in early 2009.

"Suffolk County has all the public safety problems of any metropolis, with the added challenge of a much larger geographic scale," Cooper declares. "If we really want to combat crime from Melville to Montauk with our limited resources, we need to think outside the box. While security cameras will never replace a cop on the beat, they can be used to supplement conventional policing efforts. We need to take every reasonable step to protect our children, our families and our quality of life."