MJA to Design Video Surveillance for Camden, N.J.

Oct. 26, 2007
Engineering firm to create city-wide inteligent digital video surveillance system

Morris, Johnson & Associates, Inc. a consulting engineering firm, announced the award of a contract to assess, design and provide overall program management for a comprehensive city-wide intelligent digital video surveillance system in parts of Camden, N.J. in an effort tomake city streets safer. Business owners, citizens and law enforcement applaud the efforts of the "Eye In the Sky" committee, made up of a variety of residential, community and city leaders, and consultant,MJA.

Morris, Johnson & Associates, Inc., was awarded an initial contract, approved by the council, based on their security system expertise and design capabilities. MJA will create a blueprint for the plan that the City hopes will spawn further success and spread to larger areas.

The Eye in the Sky committee toured the city's business districts recently to begin the process of identifying locations for camera installation. Private and public employees will monitor the cameras and real-time information will be relayed to the city's police department. This is the result of an over three-year effort to bring cameras tothe City's streets.

The committee's plans call for a network of live-feed cameras along Broadway, Haddon Avenue, Mount Ephraim Avenue, Westfield Avenue, Federal Street and Yorkship Square. A staff of about 10 to 20 workers will monitor the network and private businesses will be able to link to it with their own cameras.

Camden Councilman Bill Spearman, a member of the Eye In the Sky committee, said there are discussions with the city police force to assign a set number of officers to patrol the business districts.

"In order for us to rebuild the business districts, we have to make them safe. If we can make the districts clean and safe, we will be more likely to attract new businesses into the city," he said. "We want people to be able to live in a neighborhood and walk to work but the first step is to change the perception, so people feel safe cominghere."

Rollout of additional cameras and a broader reaching network will be possible due to an open architecture design that MJA employed, something the Council considered favorably in their vote to award the contract.

Morris, Johnson & Associates, Inc. is a Birdsall Services Group Company.

Birdsall Services Group is comprised of four professional engineering companies; Birdsall Engineering, Inc., Di Stasio & Van Buren, Inc., LGA Engineering, Inc., and Morris, Johnson & Associates Inc. Covering a broad range of services from civil environmental, municipal, traffic/transportation structural, mechanical, electrical plumbing, surveying, IT & security consulting, marine engineering, planning, landscape architecture and more, BSG serves a wide variety of residential,commercial, industrial and government entities. The ability to draw on the resources and technical expertise of the combined strengths ofthese organizations allows BSG to offer expert solutions to complex challenges as a single source, permitting timely and cost effective customer results.