The Cobourg Police Service is announcing the creation of their Security Camera Registry, partnering with local town businesses in improving community safety.
The Closed Circuit TV (CCTV) Security Camera Registry allows business owners in the community to register their businesses, along with any cameras they have, with police. The program gives businesses the option to let the Cobourg Police Service know if they have commercial security cameras, which may help assist police if a crime later occurs in the area.
When a crime is being investigated, officers often have to canvass residents and businesses for security cameras that may have valuable footage of suspects or criminal activity. The canvassing process is lengthy, uses up police resources, and makes solving crimes take longer. The security camera registry speeds up investigations by giving front line officers access to where cameras may be and their orientation, who to contact for camera footage, along with the retention period of each camera installation.
When a camera is registered, officers can then see who in the area has cameras that may have footage and ask those businesses directly for assistance. This proactive step saves time, helps solve cases more quickly, and helps improve the odds of making an arrest, or helping out a victim of crime.
The registry is a database of camera locations and owners, and does not give the Cobourg Police Service direct access to any of the registered cameras. Business owners must be asked, and they must consent to the release of any video footage each time it is requested by the Cobourg Police Service.
Chief Paul VandeGraaf stated "This is just formalizing the great assistance that the Cobourg Police Service receives from our business community. As a Police Service we are very fortunate to have such an engaged community. I hope that all business in Town would join this proactive initiative. Also, we would love to extend this in the future to private residences. Together we will make Cobourg safer each day."
To kick off this campaign, Cobourg Police Auxiliary members will begin, over the next months, to canvass businesses door to door throughout the town of Cobourg. At each visit, they will speak with each business individually, and help them register their cameras and information about their business, such as who to contact to get the recordings. The information collected is solely for the use of first responders.
