ENGLEWOOD — A plan to place the city’s downtown business district under video surveillance will be discussed at the City Council meeting. If approved, Englewood would be the first municipality in Bergen County to have a police video surveillance system.

North Bergen has had surveillance cameras in its commercial areas since 2009. Police Chief Arthur O’Keefe asked the council in September to install 40 cameras along Palisade Avenue to help solve crimes and prevent a variety of illegal activities.

The cameras would be attached to utility poles at intersections from Engle Street to the war memorial monument. Police would monitor the cameras and keep the footage for 90 days.

The system would cost $300,000, which O’Keefe has said would come from forfeiture funds provided by federal agencies and the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. The system would be modeled after one now used by New York City, O’Keefe said, and could expand in time to cover city parks, pools and other public areas.

Palisade Avenue was chosen as the first place to install cameras because it draws 40,000 to 60,000 vehicles and countless people every day and attracts large crowds for parades and community events.

The council is taking up the discussion as city merchants prepare for the holiday season, when shoppers flock to downtown to buy gifts and patronize local restaurants.

The chief told the council in September that surveillance cameras could have helped police find the assailants in a spate of attacks earlier this year against Hispanic laborers walking downtown, which remain unsolved.[…]