The Belleville Police Service has introduced the next wave in community security.
At a small media event in Jane Forrester Park Wednesday afternoon the police service officially launched CamSafe.
CamSafe is a voluntary registry for residents who have closed-circuit TV cameras at their homes or businesses.
The program is designed to help police cut down the time between the first report of a crime and the apprehension of suspects by allowing them to know immediately who in the area may have valuable CCTV camera footage that can help identify a suspect.
Sergeant Jeremy Ashley conceived the idea and worked on the concept with Kristin Crowe of Alarm Systems.
He explained how the program can assists police officers.
“For officers on the road, how CamSafe works is it allows police officers, whether they’re investigating those break-ins in whatever part of the city or a major crime, call up CamSafe on their phone, in their vehicle or in their work station and geo-fence an area, see a map and see who’s registered, so you can see already the value in that. It saves us a lot of time having to search out cameras and that type of footage and, of course, it’s all voluntary, so there’s no onus on the person to provide anything to police. It’s just a matter of us connecting with them.”
Sergeant Ashley sang the praises of the leadership at the Belleville Police Service for allowing him to take the idea from its infancy all the way to the official launch with free reign.
Belleville Mayor Mitch Panciuk was on hand for the launch and he echoed the sentiments of how CamSafe can help police officers in the city.
“Sometimes eyewitnesses are great because they’ve seen it, but sometimes eyewitness recollection isn’t always so accurate and to be able to back it up with this type of footage is going to be great.”
Sergeant Ashley also said there are plans to expand the service into Prince Edward and Hastings counties as well.
Anyone who has CCTV cameras and is interested in registering can do so at CamSafe.ca
The registration only asks for contact information, how many cameras you have and where they’re pointed.
Sergeant Jeremy Ashley of the Belleville Police Service (L) poses with Kristen Crowe of Alarm Systems. The BPS partnered with Alarm Systems to bring the CamSafe concept to fruition. (Photo: Ryan Peddigrew/QuinteNews)
