More people in Charlotte are adding their security cameras to a police network
Across Charlotte, a growing number of people are adding their private surveillance cameras to a police network.
Police say they can use it to find suspects and solve crimes.
“Connect Charlotte,” an opt-in program that Charlotte-Mecklenburg police rolled out early last year, already has more than 2,000 cameras in its system. Sgt. Ryan Buckler, who oversees CMPD’s real time crime center that uses the network to give police intelligence, said he expects the program to be publicized more in the coming months.
“There’s no better info than having eyes on a situation,” said Buckler.
How it works
Online, residents can register their cameras with the police for free.
With the right hardware, business owners can go further and give permission to the police to use a camera’s livestream function. CMPD has stressed that such permission is conditional; business owners decide which cameras police can access.
At press time, 2,075 cameras have been registered, meaning they are mapped in CMPD’s system. If police see that a camera is registered near where a crime happened, they might reach out to the camera’s owner and ask for permission to see some footage as they are investigating, Buckler said.
Also, 1,363 business cameras have been “integrated,” meaning police can tap into livestream footage. With those cameras, police and other staff working in the real time crime center might tune in and feed information to officers who are responding to the scene, Buckler said.
If there’s been a robbery, staff might use livestream footage to find a getaway vehicle and “get officers on that vehicle while also maintaining eyes on the scene, if we’re able to,” he said. Or, he said, if someone calls 911 and says that a suspect has a gun, livestream footage can help verify or disprove that so officers know what to expect.
The technology has helped CMPD in some cases involving narcotics and others, Buckler said.
CMPD says it’s protecting users’ privacy
While law enforcement agencies using livestream camera technology has drawn controversy elsewhere, Buckler said the reception in Charlotte has been positive so far.
He said some people frustrated with crime in their neighborhoods have offered to let CMPD use their residential, “registered” cameras for livestream footage, but that the department will not do that.
“That’s not what the program is, and we don’t want to go down that path as an organization,” he said.
CMPD has said the data collected through Connect Charlotte is encrypted, and that camera registry information is considered protected non-public data, which means only people with permission inside the department can see it.
Ryan Oehrli covers criminal justice in the Charlotte region for The Charlotte Observer. His work is produced with financial support from the nonprofit The Just Trust. The Observer maintains full editorial control of its journalism.