Ontario Provincial Police in Essex County are asking the public to help them cut down on the amount of time it takes officers to locate potential video evidence that could assist an investigation.
The OPP is launching the CAMSafe program, which is aimed at creating a database of residential and commercial security cameras within a community.
The CAMSafe database would provide officers with a map showing registered cameras, allowing investigators to click on registered addresses to view further details, such as property owner contact information.
OPP Constable Steven Duguay says this database will help speed up investigations.
"We will know what residences or commercial places have cameras within a certain area, usually based on where an incident occurred. It speeds up the fact that we can log into it and see where these cameras are instead of knocking on each door individually and asking if they have cameras or if they have any footage of the street or anything in the area," he says.
"Sometimes that's the key piece we need to put things together if we're looking to effect an arrest or hold someone accountable for their actions," he says.
Officers will not be able to access your security cameras or cloud-based accounts to examine camera footage unless they make a request and receive permission from the property owner.
Duguay says the police would just know that you have a camera.
"Just because you register your camera, if it's for some reason you don't want to share that footage, that's up to the homeowner. There's no obligation to share that footage," he says.
Those who register their cameras are only required to provide basic contact information and camera location but can include more details if they want, including the direction the camera faces, footage retention details, or screenshots of the camera view.
Registrants can only view their own information and can delete their account or change their information at any time.
To learn more about the CAMSafe program and to register security cameras, please visit https://camsafe.ca/.