The Ames Police Department is calling on the community to help solve crimes.
The local department recently unveiled a voluntary program for residents to share their security camera footage to help gather evidence in criminal cases.
The department announced its new Community Camera Program on May 30. Ames residents and businesses can now register their security cameras for the nationally recognized program.
How does the Community Camera Program work?
When a crime occurs, the Ames PD’s traditional neighborhood canvassing − going door to door and asking to see camera footage − can be time-consuming, Ames Police Sgt. Amber Christian said. The department hopes to speed up the process with the new program, which shows police which homes and businesses they can pull video from.
“We don’t get the video without the permission of the homeowner or business owner,” Christian said. “We just now know where to ask; therefore, it can significantly improve the speed of our investigation.”
More than 56 residents and businesses had signed up in the weeks since the program launched.
How to get involved with the Community Camera Program
To sign up, residents or businesses can visit the Ames Police Department section on the City of Ames’ website and click on the Community Programs & Crime Prevention tab.
The Ames PD will only know where cameras are, the direction they’re pointed and the owner’s contact information. Officers will not have access to the security system, and that information will remain confidential.
Participants are not obligated to release footage. Their information will be erased from the database if they decide to opt out. Participation will remain private.
National program arrives in Ames
Ames’ Community Camera Program was started by Chad Lovig, a former Ames police sergeant, before he was promoted to investigator in the Iowa Attorney General’s Office Cold Case Unit.
Christian said the program was a long time coming, though it took longer than the department anticipated.
“It’s not something we started from scratch,” Christian said. “We used the successes of other departments in their implementation of the process to move forward with ours.”
Neighborhood security cameras helped the Ames PD with its recent investigation and May 22 arrest for multiple car burglaries on the west side of town. Officers referenced several camera feeds in the neighborhood to help solve the case.
“It’s helpful if we have this program in place, so we can take a look and say, ‘This person is registered, we can then go and ask them if they mind us taking a look at their surveillance footage to see if there’s anything that would be helpful to us,'” Christian said.
Celia Brocker is a government, crime, political and education reporter for the Ames Tribune. She can be reached at CBrocker@gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: New community camera program may assist Ames Police investigations. How to get involved:
Reporting by Celia Brocker, Ames Tribune / Ames Tribune
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