Prince Albert police ask residents to voluntarily register home security cameras to help reduce crime

The Prince Albert Police Service is asking for the public's help reducing crime. It hopes to do this by having residents voluntarily register their outward-facing security cameras with police. 

The program is called the Safe Neighbourhood Camera Registry. It's a secure web system that allows residents and businesses to register that they have security cameras and would be willing to share imagery should a crime happen in view of the camera.

Prince Albert police say they believe this will give them quicker access to potential evidence.

Patrick Nogier, Prince Albert's chief of police, told CBC the service started to look into camera registration after receiving feedback from multiple community representatives that police weren't responding quickly enough to certain types of calls, such as a report of someone loitering in a back alley.

Nogier said the community has indicated that it wants to play a role in reducing crime. In response, police started to look for ways they could be more efficient.

"A lot of times when we do have a serious crime that takes place, our officers are tied up going door to door trying to canvas the areas and determine whether there's any outward-facing security cameras that can help us identify people that were involved in a crime," said Nogier.

He said police learned quickly that many residents have security cameras. The police service and the city decided to team up with the company Forrest Green and its Safe Neighbourhood Camera Registry. Nogier said the police service already has experience with Forrest Green and its platform that allows officers to do criminal record checks.

It's been a few days since registry opened and Nogier said people are slowly starting to use it. In the meantime, the police chief has been using his platform at community and chamber events to encourage residents to register, and hopes community associations and groups will do the same. 

Nogier acknowledges that it's common for people to be concerned about sharing personal information with police. He said, however, that there is a lot of misinformation around this kind of initiative.

"People actually think we want access to their systems to see what's going on. But in essence, this is just a registry," said Nogier.

"It allows us to take a look at a geographic area. And if people have been contributing, providing us with their name, what type of camera system they have, where it's pointed — very quickly investigators can go and look and determine whether or not there's something there that can help us progress an investigation."

Prince Albert officers cannot access a person's camera just because they've registered. They still must receive the owner's permission to see any footage. Nogier said it's important for police to work on strengthening community connections to build trust.

"I understand that there's apprehensiveness. [People] think that maybe Big Brother is watching, it's a bit of a conspiracy theory, and people are worried about giving up those sorts of things. But at the end of the day, people are making investments in security products that can severely assist law enforcement in holding people accountable for crimes."

Nogier said property crime in particular is difficult to investigate.