Thanks to the partnership with the United Way, funding has been provided to the Salisbury Police Department to kick off its camera project.

This project uses crime analytics to strategically place cameras in high crime areas that assist the Salisbury Police Department in the combating crime. The cameras help to gather data in locations in reference to prolific offenders and their patterns as well as providing officer safety. The Salisbury Police Department is specifically focused on the areas where there has been a high increase in opioid overdoses. Frequent activity is recorded in these areas and this data is used to not only detect the activity but to identify those involved.

Assistance can then be offered to individuals that does not always have to end in charges or prosecution. The Salisbury Police Department also can help individuals find programs and assistance that can teach individuals to make better life decisions. It is the goal of the Salisbury Police Department to make the Salisbury community and its citizens safe, and thanks to the United Way we can incorporate the use of state of the art technology.

The Salisbury Police Department started installing cameras over a year ago. However, the United Way has made it possible to expedite the process, allowing more areas to be covered. The more area we can cover with cameras the more accurate the data is.

We are placing cameras in areas that are considered public in order to not violate anyone’s expectation to privacy. With the assistance of the United Way, the Salisbury Police Department has over 60 cameras in different locations throughout our city. We hope this is the beginning of a long and productive relationship with the United Way in order to assist each other in reaching both organizations’ goals.

— Lt. P.J. Smith

Salisbury