Midland police are now providing a way for residents to help police apprehend criminals even quicker.
The Community Camera Program is a voluntary program where residents can choose to provide information about their privately-owned security camera systems to police. If a crime has occurred in the vicinity of a camera system listed in the Community Camera Program, officers can contact the camera system owner to check for evidence of a crime and use the footage gathered to help apprehend and prosecute criminals.
The information collected through the Community Camera Program will be for official investigative purposes only and will remain confidential except as required by law. Collected information includes what directions the camera points to, how long the footage remains in the camera system, and who police should contact regarding possible footage. The information collected will be stored on an internal, secure database accessible by police personnel only.
“The Community Camera Program allows police and citizens to work together to solve crime,” Lt. Alfredo Grimaldo said. “Before the program, officers would have to go door to door after a crime was committed in an area or we would put out a request through social media. However, collecting footage through this process could take hours or days and citizens may not even contact us unaware their cameras picked up valuable footage.”
There are several police departments throughout Texas that have implemented a Community Camera Program including Fort Worth, Arlington, and Plano. The program is expected to help conserve police resources by providing police with a database to access immediately after a crime was committed and potentially find, apprehend, and prosecute criminals faster than ever.
Citizens can add a camera system to the Community Camera Program by visiting www.midlandtexas.gov/CCP.
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Media Contact: Lt. Alfredo Grimaldo