SARAH McCOLGAN Colts Neck Police Chief Kevin Sauter operates the department’s new Nightsight thermal-imaging camera from inside a police vehicle.
COLTS NECK — Township police now have a new tool to help them hunt for lost persons and track down suspects in hiding.
The Police Department has added a Nightsight thermal-imaging camera to its arsenal of weapons to fight crime. The camera was donated to the department by local businessman Ted Dalmazio, owner of Clandestine Industries, according to Police Chief Kevin Sauter.
The camera has been mounted on the department’s 1992 Jeep Cherokee, Sauter said.
"This will be a valuable tool for us," Sauter said. "We have to patrol a lot of open spaces and fields, and this device will be a big aid in helping us do that."
Colts Neck, a community of 32 square miles with a population of 12,300 residents, is patrolled by 19 police officers.
Nightsight is a thermal-imaging system built around an infrared video camera that measures the thermal energy of an object against its background. The camera generates a real-time video signal that allows an operator to view a thermal picture of the scene. The scene is displayed on a monitor mounted inside the vehicle. Unlike some light intensifiers, Nightsight in unaffected by the level of ambient light or by rapidly changing light levels, according to police.
Sauter said some typical law enforcement uses of the camera are:
• detection of suspects in hiding;
• detection of recently operated vehicles;
• providing enhanced view of patrol areas when needed from the safety of a patrol car;
• revealing contraband and evidence discarded by suspects fleeing in the dark; and
• detection of heat/hot areas in fire calls.
‘This will be most valuable when we are searching for missing persons or apprehending suspects who flee the scene of a crime," the chief said.
Sauter said the new camera has already seen action, although not in Colts Neck.
"We were called to Marlboro and Middletown recently to use our camera to help them trace suspects," Sauter said. ‘We didn’t find any suspects, however."

