Cedar Rapids Police Ask Residents to Register Security Cameras
The voluntary surveillance camera registration program is aimed at reducing crime and aid in the apprehension of criminals.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — The police department here is asking residents to register their private security cameras, so when a crime is committed investigators will know where and how many cameras are in the area.
There are no minimum camera equipment requirements and the police department will not inspect any personal surveillance systems, according to the police department’s website.
Sgt. Laura Faircloth told The Gazette the program is intended to save investigators time hunting down cameras that may have captured a crime scene.
“This is a completely voluntary program,” Faircloth said. “For those who register their cameras, the basic information that they are asked to submit will be stored in a database that we created and control. That way, when something does happen, investigators don’t have to search for cameras — they can access the database from their in-car computers and see what cameras are in the area.”
Registering a camera does not give the police department remote access to the footage, Faircloth explained. If investigators found a camera that may have recorded an incident and wanted to collect the footage, they would still need the camera’s owner to provide a copy of the recording.
“The only thing this database would do is let officers check to see what cameras are in the area, where they are and who owns them,” she said.
Faircloth said the police department asks those who choose to register their cameras to only do so if the cameras are set to record public areas, such as sidewalks, front yards, alleyways and streets.
“We do not want any cameras that record private space, such as the inside of a person’s home,” she said.
Faircloth said residential security cameras are not expected to meet any kind of system, quality or format requirements.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s a simple doorbell camera or a state-of-the-art private surveillance system,” she said. “All we’re hoping to do here is get a better idea of the tools that are available to investigators when a crime occurs and save our officers time when it comes to hunting down possible investigative leads.”
Upon registration, the owner’s information will be stored in a secure database. Once a year an email will be sent out asking owners to update their information or give them the option to “opt out” and be removed from the database should they choose.
Over the past decade or so, Faircloth said surveillance camera footage has proved to be a valuable tool in police investigations and is used to solve every kind of crime.
“Almost all of our investigations now involve some type of camera footage, these days,” she said. “We’ve used home security cameras to solve anything from a porch theft to a homicide, and I can honestly say there are some crimes we might not have been solved without the footage from a homeowner’s private security system.”
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