ROANOKE COUNTY, Va. – The Roanoke County Police Department launched a new initiative, the Citizens’ View Security Camera Program, to recruit the community to help to solve crimes.
The department is asking for local home and business owners to voluntarily sign up to let police know if and where they have security cameras outside their stores or homes, including doorbell cameras, tree cameras and more sophisticated cameras.
Sgt. Jason McNamara said that when it comes to solving a crime, the more evidence and the quicker police can follow up on leads, the better.
“Sometimes minutes are crucial," said McNamara. “A video always helps, no matter what the offense is.”
All the registered cameras are mapped out and police can look up where they are, but that information will not be publicly available.
Therefore, if there is a crime, police can figure out if there are surveillance cameras nearby and begin to search for evidence.
“That may help us put the pieces together of where the suspect or suspects have been, where vehicles have been, so forth, to really plot the course of how this entire incident happened,” said McNamara.
Even if you sign up for the program and register your cameras, police have to get your permission to look at the footage if they believe it may have captured anything related to a crime.
“We do not have remote access to the cameras," said McNamara. "We can’t tap into them and see through the camera lens.”
A local business owner, Brian Powell who runs Wine Gourmet, said it’s a good idea. His store’s security footage has even come in handy before.
“East Coasters, when they were in the strip had an incident," said Powell, "We did turn that footage over to the police.”
Anyone who registers for the program can opt out of it at any time.
“Our ultimate goal is to not only deter crime but to solve crimes that have already occurred through the use of cameras that are already out there,” McNamara said.
To sign up for the program, click here.