Asbury Park police want to know if you have a surveillance camera

ASBURY PARK - The Asbury Park Police Department wants your videos. If there's been trouble, that is.

The police department is launching a new registration program where businesses and residents are urged to notify the department if they have a surveillance camera on their property.

The department said the registry can assist with investigations by letting authorities know sooner if there's possible footage of crime scenes.

The video above shows surveillance video of hot tea spilling onto a girl at a Neptune Wawa convenience store. Her family has filed a lawsuit

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"Participants will only be contacted by the Asbury Park Police Department if there is an incident within the vicinity of your camera system and officers or detectives need to request to view footage in order to assist in the investigation," a release from the department said.

The Asbury Park surveillance camera registration program is similar to systems recently initiated in Lakewood and Toms River.

More: Lakewood, Toms River cops want your help with surveillance cameras

Toms River police announced a similar program, which they named "Operation Watchdog," in April.

"This allows officers assigned to the investigation to be deployed to other tasks thereby enabling a higher degree of efficiency of allocated resources," Toms River Community Affairs Officer Ralph Stocco wrote.

Austin Bogues: 732-643-4009; abogues@gannettnj.com

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