Newark Mayor Unveils City’s New Surveillance Operations Center

Newark, New Jersey Mayor Cory Booker presents surveillance footage from the newly-opened Surveillance Operations Center of the Newark, New Jersey Police Department at a press conference in Newark, July 1, 2008.

At the new operations center, police monitor the 109 surveillance cameras that cover the city’s most concentrated are of violent crimes.

The cameras serve as silent witnesses in a city where violence is a constant. Booker and Police Director Garry J. McCarthy said they are hoping that the cameras make criminals think twice about what they do in public.

Homicides have decreased markedly in Newark in 2008 , 27 were committed through June 15, compared to 43 a year ago , and rapes also have decreased during the same period, from 40 in 2007 to 25 in 2008, according to statistics published by the Newark Police Department. Aggravated assaults and robberies have experienced rises of 1 and 4 percent, respectively. (philly.com)

(Photo by Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images)