SURF CITY — The Surf City Police Department has launched a new tool to keep residents informed of nearby crime. Called “City Protect,” the program updates daily all criminal activity that takes place in the 9-mile town.
Surf City Police Chief Phil Vorhees said the goal is to provide transparency to those living in Surf City and also offer a more accessible route for submitting tips directly related to incidents.
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The system costs roughly $4,000 a year and is hosted by Motorola Solutions. It’s also used by a dozen other law enforcement agencies in the state, the closest being the Wilmington Police Department, as well as entities such as Durham Public Schools.
“I think for what we spend and the product we’re getting back, it’s well worth it,” Vorhees said.
The town had already been contracted with Motorola on its submit-a-tip platform since summer 2020 but upgraded the system last month to City Protect.
When someone logs into the site, tiny icons with different symbols pop up. When clicked, the icons indicate the type of crime that occurred and the general vicinity in which it happened.
While it doesn’t offer the exact address for victims’ safety, Vorhees explained, it pinpoints the incident within a one-block radius.
The information includes the date and time the crime occurred, as well as the case number. If residents want to learn more, they can request a full report from the police department.
“It gives the general public an idea on what police deal with and where things are happening,” Vorhees said.
Information can be filtered by date, specific crimes and location; however, the new system only pulled in data from the last six to eight months. Moving forward, more data will be available for searching.
There is also an option to submit a crime tip such as a person of interest leaving the scene, a license plate or a description.
“We rely on public information, witnesses, camera systems to help with investigations,” Vorhees said. “Those are two big things.”
He explained many crimes are solved with the help of personal surveillance systems. City Protect includes a camera registration element.
Residents or business owners can voluntarily register a personal camera, in turn informing Surf City PD where cameras are located. If officers are investigating a report nearby, they know where to go to request accessing footage.
“We’re not trying to log in and watch their house,” Vorhees said. “If something happens, they would have to voluntarily give us access to the footage. We will have no interaction with their program, other than we know it’s there.”
The data pulled from City Protect will not include any traffic citations, including DWIs. Vorhees said that could change in the future.
“As time goes by, more data will be stored in the system, and we will continue to grow it by seeing what works and what doesn’t,” he said.
While crime is down overall by 15% in Surf City, Vorhees said he plans to use the data to create a heat map of crime, to modify patrol schedules and procedures as needed.
But the main takeaway Vorhees hopes to see is residents be more vigilant, especially if crime is spiking in their neighborhoods or areas they frequent. For example, if there is an increase in the number of cars being robbed, he hopes it will signal those living in the vicinity to remember to lock their vehicles upon each exit.
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