In three years, it's recouped $68,000, held a 94-percent arrest rate and produced footage of culprits in action so clear that it might as well be a yearbook photo.

What sounds like some sort of law enforcement fantasy is just another day at the office for State College Police Officer David M. White and his partner-in-crime-prevention, Barry L. Campbell, maintenance supervisor for Associated Realty Property Management.

This month, the pair is celebrating the three-year anniversary of pioneering an apartment surveillance system that police say has significantly reduced not only apartment vandalism, but also students' rent.

White said the project has fostered a relationship among law enforcement agents, local businesses and tenants. Students are more willing to identify perpetrators on tape when faced with the option of paying for the damage themselves, he said.

"Crime does pay," Campbell said, smiling. "I think it's getting to the point where it's starting to hit people's pocketbooks."

Additionally, Campbell said the pattern of the recent spike in robberies around town might suggest that the surveillance system is having a deterring effect on potential thieves. White said he does not work with The Graduate apartment complex, 138 S. Atherton St., Meridian Apartments, 747 E. Beaver Ave., or Beaver Hill apartments, 340 E. Beaver Ave. -- all sites of alleged robberies within the past month -- and said he is not aware of any surveillance systems for the three complexes.

All three companies declined repeated requests to comment on the issue and would not confirm or deny the presence of cameras on the properties.

"I'm pretty confident if these guys who are doing these burglaries and robberies happen to pick one of the camera buildings, we'd have a really great lead to follow up," White said.

The system is installed in 11 buildings around town owned by the Associated Realty Property Management, White said.

In the first-floor headquarters at Beaver Terrace, 456 E. Beaver Ave., Campbell can be found hunched over his dual-screen setup, monitoring and reviewing the action on each floor, recorded on the 29 cameras through out the building.

As an example, he tracks a man wearing a Notre Dame sweatshirt inside the building at about 3 a.m. Feb. 11. An elevator camera reveals the man urinating in the corner.

Before leaving the building, the man sets off a fire extinguisher in the hallway, adding to the $630 worth of damage amassed on his trip through the building. After being given surveillance photos from Campbell, White used Facebook.com and tenants' help for identification, and he was set to interview a suspect last Thursday. Campbell said the man admitted to the incident.

Campbell said he has fielded questions about the surveillance system from other property management firms, such as the Apartment Store, 444 E. College Ave.

"It might be well worth the apartment building management to invest in it," he said. "It's a struggle for some of the building owners, but we try to tell everyone we speak with about the success we've had."

The systems can cost up to $36,000 to install in one building, but within three years, Campbell's firm has already recovered nearly two building's worth of expenses, he said.

White said the surveillance program was used to arrest David Cassada, who is accused of attacking a woman in a University Gateway apartment stairwell Oct. 28 by throwing a blanket over her head. Police said Cassada has been linked to two other assaults over the summer, and he has a trial scheduled for the April term.

Cassada's attorney, William Stockey said the surveillance tape was delivered to his office in January in the discovery phase of the case. He said if the surveillance footage is to be used at trial, it will first have to be determined as admissible.

White said the watchful eye of the surveillance system has made both students and their parents feel safer about apartment life. When confronted with clear camera footage, he said it makes it difficult for suspects to claim their innocence.

"A picture's worth a thousand words," he said.