Pompton Lakes weighs $187,000 park-camera system; council considers bonding or phased rollout

Borough administrators proposed installing an integrated camera system across Pompton Lakes parks for $187,000, citing repeated theft, vandalism and at least one serious after-hours injury that officials said could have benefited from recorded video.

The package presented to the council includes cameras at Joe Grill, Willow Field, Hirschfield Park, Lakeside Park, Carlo Field and the police boat launch, cloud storage and Internet connectivity for locations without existing service. The vendor named in the workshop presentation was Minds Eye Technologies. The administrator said the quoted system would allow investigators to search footage by attributes, such as locating "a person in a red shirt" across multiple cameras.

Council members raised questions about the per-park camera counts (the administrator said the packet averaged five to seven cameras per facility), data-storage costs and whether the borough could phase the work. Police recommended full coverage, but several council members favored a phased approach or bonding to spread costs. The administrator said bonding was an option: "We're looking to bond this, so we would pay for it over time," he said.

Public commenters suggested adding cameras focused on flood gauges to support the emergency operations center. The emergency-management coordinator also recommended including strategically located flood-gauge video for better situational awareness during floods.

Council asked the administrator to provide phased cost options, per-park camera counts and any available grant opportunities. No contract award was made at the Nov. 13 meeting; the council signaled willingness to consider bonding or a two-year phased approach depending on budget analysis.