BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — Security cameras are set to be installed at some Joralemon Street homes this spring in response to what neighbors say is an increase in neighborhood crime, officials said.
The cameras would represent a residential expansion of Borough President Eric Adams’s "Operation Safe Shopper" program, which brought street-facing security cameras to various commercial districts last year, said Peter Bray, executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association.
About two street-facing cameras would be placed per block on resident’s homes between Furman and Clinton streets, for a total of 10 to 12 cameras, according to Bray.
Residents would volunteer to have a camera installed on their home and make the footage available to NYPD officers when necessary, he explained.
The organization is also looking to add cameras to commercial establishments on Joralemon Street, between Clinton and Court streets, Bray added.
The Brooklyn Paper first reported the planned installations.
Bray said residents began asking for surveillance cameras last spring following a series of incidents at Brooklyn Bridge Park, including a massive teen brawl that led police to close the park’s sports courts at Pier 2.
A prominent rabbi was also attacked by a group of teens in an attempted robbery last February as he was walking down Joralemon Street.
"Joralemon Street experiences a huge number of people coming to the park and leaving the park,” Bray explained. "Having some cameras on the street could one, be a deterrent, and two, help police apprehend perpetrators."
Burglaries have also been on the rise in the 84th Precinct — which covers Brooklyn Heights, Boerum Hill, Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO and Vinegar Hill — since December of last year, NYPD data show.
There have been 32 reported burglaries so far in 2017, compared to just 12 during same period last year, according to the NYPD's CompStat database. One of those burglaries occurred at a commercial establishment on Court and Joralemon streets, police said.
The NYPD and the Brooklyn Heights Association have been warning residents since the end of last year to take simple measures like locking their doors and windows to secure their homes against thieves.
The borough president’s office and the BHA hope to install the cameras sometime this spring, Bray said.
The project will be funded by a $2,500 grant that Adams's office will give the BHA, as well as supplemental funds from homeowners, he noted. The total cost of the project will depend on how many cameras are installed.
A spokesman for Adams confirmed his office was working on implementing the project, but declined to give more information, saying the details have not yet been finalized.
