East Central Iowa News

Newton Police Chief Robert Burdess recently took some time to address the City Council on how technology has changed policing, notably mentioning that cameras have helped reduce property crime.

“Realistically, big crimes were solved with these cameras,” he said during the council’s Feb. 20 meeting. “Not a huge investment, but technology is something that we have to be aware of as a community and utilize to reduce our property crime and our violent crime even further.” 

Burdess will be providing a more detailed report on crime statistics at the next council meeting, but he said the department has reduced property crime by 50% over the past four years. Property crime had been one of the biggest concerns for Newton residents.

The department is hoping to build on that success, Burdess said.

“We are exploring other technological advances to reduce crime in the community and make our community safer,” he told the council. “Many communities in our state are doing the same thing. Technology is improving by the minute, as we know.”

In 2019, the community adopted the technological version of the neighborhood watch program. The department purchased several pole-mounted cameras to put in neighborhoods most affected by crime to watch the area and potentially have more evidence to be able to solve more cases. 

Those cameras were extremely beneficial, even helping to solve a homicide as the whole case was caught on video, Burdess said. They also have been used to track suspects in an armed robbery, a burglary ring and a drug house.

The chief invited representatives from Sector Technology, a firm specializing in equipping and supplying technology and resources to law enforcement agencies, to share ideas about how new technology can help going forward.

The council heard about automatic license plate readers, something many communities in the Midwest have adopted, which scan license plates as they drive by and compare them to a “hot sheet” of cars or drivers related to current active crimes. The council was also told that those cameras would not be used for traffic enforcement or other surveillance.

Burdess also talked about options to reduce the number of uninsured drivers on the roads. 

The council thanked the police chief for his presentation and said the suggestions would be reviewed and brought to other committees as needed.