Police Cars Parked Along Admiral Wilson Boulevard In Effort To Prevent Crime
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- For weeks, marked police cars have been stationed at businesses along Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Camden.
Two police cars have been parked around the clock at gas stations along Admiral Wilson Boulevard. Generally, there are no officers in the cars. Camden County Police Chief Scott Thomson says it's designed to deter crime from robberies to shoplifting to graffiti.
"It's a reminder to those that may be up to no good -- whatever it may be on that spectrum of illegal activity -- that we're nearby, and that we're watching at all times," he said.
Thomson says the cars are part of a wider bid to work with business owners to address blight and dilapidated properties in neighborhoods.
"We were seeing an increase in the amount of graffiti, trash, broken-down cars, boards falling off of abandoned buildings," the chief said. "And considering the fact that 80,000 cars a day travel along that route -- I don't want that to negatively define our city."
Thomson says additional cameras have been installed along the Boulevard, and that several spray-painting vandals have been caught in the act and arrested.