The Brighton Police Department is asking for any residents or businesses with cameras on their property to register it with the department as a way to help investigators solve crime.
That footage can then be used during future investigations, something Sgt. Mark Kohn with the department said typically takes a while.
Kohn said when police investigate crimes they send officers out to canvas the neighborhoods. They look for witnesses or any available surveillance video, but new technology makes spotting those cameras hard because they're so small. This new program makes that easier.
"If we know where these cameras are then we can look into our data base, see where the potential evidence might be or who's house or who's business might have that potential evidence for us, and then we can go out and we can contact those people and ask them if we can view their surveillance," Kohn said.
Here's how it works: Suppose a crime happened down the block from a person's home.
Once that person registers his or her property camera, police will be able to go into their database and see if the home is near a crime scene.
They still have to ask permission to access that video.
"All they're doing is telling us, 'Hey if you need it, we have cameras, and we might have some footage for you,'" Kohn said. “That's all this is. They register with us to let us know they might be able to help out."
Registering doesn't mean officers have the ability to view footage captured by a person's camera system.
They will always need the homeowner's permission.
Kohn said this really isn't different from what people are already doing on social media.
"I notice on Nextdoor and Facebook that people are posting footage, surveillance footage from their doorbells, from their cellphones that their posting is straight to Facebook already and this way we'll be able to contact these people also," he said.
Kohn said footage like this can help identify suspects faster or can provide valuable evidence in court.
He said every little bit helps during an investigation.
"People may have video surveillance of a crime or something that they don't recognize to be a crime, or maybe it happened while they were at work or while they were sleeping at night, so they may not know they have that video surveillance,” he said.
Brighton rolled out the program Wednesday and they have about a dozen residents already registered.
The program is voluntary and asks interested parties to fill out an online form.
