North Wildwood Police offer year-round residents and summer homeowners a property check program while they are away from the dwelling.

"In the off season, between Labor Day and Memorial Day, our officers will do a check of the property," Police Captain John Stevenson said.

If a homeowner signs up for this, patrol officers will get out of their car at the residence, "check the doors, walk around the property, make sure everything is satisfactory — there are not any broken pipes, there is no damage from wind or anything like that. And we check it every week."

Stevenson says a lot of these houses are left empty over the course of a couple of months.

"Plus, a lot of people who had these vacation homes do not come down during the off-season. They usually open their house around Easter," he said.

Stevenson says the Residential Property Check Program has been around about 25 years, but it was not well known.

"Through the advent of social media, we were able to get the word out a lot better. We are getting of emails coming through, phones calls and faxes about people wanting to get involved with the program."

Home owners can sign up online or at police headquarters. Email info@nwpd.org or call 609-522-2411, ext. 1503.

Joe Cutter is the afternoon news anchor on New Jersey 101.5

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