Brian Hagberg
WARREN, Pa. – Police departments have long turned to business and residence security cameras to help solve cases, but the process of going door-to-door to see who has camera footage can be a lengthy process.
That was something the City of Warren Police Department found out first-hand during a recent case, and it’s a process officers are looking to change.
Warren Police issued a letter Monday asking local businesses, and private residences, with security cameras, including video doorbells, to register their name and address so police can save time when investigating cases.
“We’ve had some recent cases where knowledge of camera footage could’ve been useful,” Sgt. Joe Bees said. “Instead of going door-to-door, we could have saved time and gone straight to the camera owners.”
Bees said he knew the Jamestown Police have a similar program and went to Warren Chief Joe Sproveri to see if it could be implemented locally.
“He told me to go ahead and run with it,” Bees said.
Police stressed that registering a camera doesn’t give police unfettered live access to the feed.
“Registered doesn’t me we have unlimited access,” Bees said. “We still need the permission of property owners to view the footage. All we get is the knowledge that cameras exist and the ability to contact the owner because their name/number is cataloged.”
Camera location information will not be made available to the public, police said.
“The City of Warren Police Department is confident that this program will be beneficial to our community,” the letter said. “The program will assist with solving crimes, assist with locating missing adults/children, along with many other investigations. This program will help maintain a better community-policing relationship while also creating a safer City of Warren.”
The program won’t eliminate all the footwork in solving a case.
“In major incidents, door-to-door will happen regardless,” Bees said. “However, if we know a crime occurred in a certain area and we have a camera owner’s name and number we can contact them directly.”
Police said they will always make contact with the owner before attempting to view camera footage.
Anyone interested in registering their camera, or who has questions about the program, can contact Bees at 814-723-2700 ext. 128.
