Littering on Private Property
My question involves criminal law for the state of: New Jersey
For the past 6 months someone has been littering at the beginning of my driveway on my property with empty water and beer bottles (about 5-10 per week). If I mount a trail camera on one of the trees and have a picture of that someone littering, will I be able to press charges for littering?
Re: Littering on Private Property
You'll at least have something to take to police. That doesn't necessarily mean that police will be able to identify the person responsible (no, they're not likely to bring in CSI people to print the bottles). Even if you get a vehicle tag, that doesn't establish the owner as the actual litterer, but at least it's a start. If police don't actually catch the person in the act, but CAN identify them, it's possible (not likely, but possible) that they could forward their report to the DA, who would decide whether to pursue criminal charges against the person.
Your better, and faster, bet is to place a call to the police department. Tell them you'd like them to send over an officer about a continuing littering problem. Give the officer all the info you can: are there certain days or times that this littering is occurring (morning? evening? overnight?)? Are you able to identify a person or vehicle that may be involved? Ask the officer to increase patrols along your roadway - THAT is the best opportunity for something to be done to stop the activity or apprehend the person or persons responsible. Officers spend a lot of time sitting in their cars; writing reports, organizing paperwork, filling out forms, eating lunch, etc. If they are aware of a continuing problem, most will make the effort to do that sitting somewhere where just their passive presence may deter or allow detection of criminal activity.