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The program allows police to collaborate with camera owners to access surveillance footage from the cameras.
With this access, the department will create a database so investigators can quickly access these cameras in order to solve crimes in a timelier manner, police said.
"By adding privately owned residential and business security cameras to the mix, we can effectively blanket the city with security cameras, helping our investigators access information more quickly and potentially solve crimes even faster," police said in a statement.
Stamford Police said that they have seen in the past how indispensable private cameras are to police investigations. Police have solved crimes and gotten many leads from the private footage and anticipate that expanding the Secure Cam program will add to that success.
Under the program, police do not take ownership of the cameras. Instead, they would simply know where the cameras are, so if a crime happens in a particular neighborhood, they will already know a camera is nearby. Investigators would be able to pull up footage in real time or have a contact on the ready in order to view the footage quickly, police said.
The program was initiated in Philadelphia, where police said that in just a few years the police department has registered 2,400 cameras across the city and made 191 arrests based on civilian video footage.
This past summer, the Stamford Police Department began contacting private businesses and corporations in the downtown area, and compiled a registry of approximately 276 businesses and residents. They are now looking to expand that throughout the city.
Click here to register your security cameras.
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