The City of Buffalo has announced a new crime fighting initiative that is intended to blanket the city with surveillance coverage. The anti-crime tool is called Safe Cam, and essentially incorporates private surveillance cameras into The City’s video network, giving police added eyes onto the streets.
In order to join the network, residents and businesses are being asked to register their surveillance cameras with the Buffalo Police Department (BPD). By registering, The City becomes aware of the camera, and if a crime is committed in the neighborhood, police are then immediately privy to the camera, and can then access video footage.
“We see surveillance cameras nearly everywhere we go, but only a couple hundred actually belong to the City of Buffalo,” said Mayor Brown. “By adding privately owned residential and business security cameras to the mix, we can effectively blanket the city with security cameras, helping our investigators access information more quickly and potentially solve crimes even faster.”
If you’ve ever watched any Dateline or The First 48 programs, then you are aware just how effective this initiative could be. Philadelphia launched a similar initiative a few years back, and today has amassed 2400 community cameras via registration. Since embarking upon the collaborative project, the additional “civilian” cameras helped to make 191 arrests that otherwise would not have been made.
Registration is easy. Go to www.bpdny.org and click on the services tab where you will find Buffalo safecam. Fill out the on-line form. For more information about the Buffalo Police Department, go to www.bpdny.org – Twitter: @BPDAlerts – Facebook: Buffalo Police Department – Instagram: BUFFALO_POLICE_DEPT.
Photo: Mayor Byron W. Brown and Buffalo Police Commissioner Dan Derenda announced the start of Safe Cam at the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, an early participant in the program.