The North Bay Police Service is turning to the public to help it solve crimes a little faster.
Special Constable John Schultz says the department has introduced a program called SCRAM which stands for Security Camera Resource and Mapping.
SCRAM asks homeowners and business people to enrol in the program if their site is equipped with a security video camera.
Schultz says right now when a crime occurs police canvass an area.
However, under SCRAM that canvassing goes a lot faster if a building’s security camera happens to record a crime in progress.
Schultz says it’s a simple matter of police asking the person to look at the video during the time the crime was committed to see if it picked up any activity.
Schultz says participants would be entered in a database which only police have access to.
“So if for example there’s a break-in on Main Street, the 911 centre would advise the officer there are 5 people registered with SCRAM and the officer can start canvassing the crime scene there,” Schultz said.
Schultz says at no time do the police ever take over the security camera and taking part in the program is voluntary.
People can also opt out.
“People work with us, they sign up to have their address flagged as having a home security camera and can withdraw their consent at any time,” Schultz said.
Schultz says the beauty of the program is with a simple image or video, the public is helping officers solve crimes and taking another step to keep the community safe.
About half a dozen police departments in Ontario have started the same program.
Schultz says it’s too soon to know how well it’s worked but it just takes one case where the cameras help solve a crime to show it works.
He says the cameras could be very useful in hit and runs and even abductions where it’s important to get information out to the media very quickly and that information immediately includes video or an image of the incident.
The public can enroll in the program by sending an email to [email protected]
