CENTRAL TEXAS (KXXV) — More than 1,000 cameras across Central Texas are able to help local law enforcement fight crime.
From Waco, Temple and Killeen, camera footage from neighborhoods and public spaces are capturing crime like never-before through neighborhood "Ring Doorbell"-style cameras.
By request, officers have been using this new-aged technology to help better serve the public and fight crime.
In Temple last year, police were alerted to more than 2,200 incidents by flock street cameras to a variety of situations including stolen cars and sex offenders.
In Waco and Killeen, there are more than a thousand cameras registered with their police departments including cameras in neighborhoods and businesses.
The Waco Police Department has 140 cameras, and the Killeen Police Department has 899 cameras.
Those camera include ring door bell cameras on homes and businesses, and in Killeen, includes city cameras and these cameras have already helped Killeen police.
"A person filing a false report for a hit and run, they had actually struck something themselves and they tried to report as a hit and run," said Killeen PD's Assistant Chief of Police, Alex Gearhart.
"We were able to quickly get to the bottom of that, get to the truth of that through our real time crime center through this Fusus software, with an actual camera that we could see."
"A couple of our murder investigations, we were able to, over the summer, we were able to identify a suspect in large part because of private video we were able to obtain."
"Now in those particular cases, they were not obtained through the registry. Those were obtained through good old fashion police work.”
When it comes to privacy, Gearhart said...
"We want to stress — this is completely voluntary we can’t see your cameras. We can’t look into what’s going on in your private lives."
But a live stream option is in the works for those willing to make their systems compatible, and again, volunteer to register their camera with KPD to help local officers and their communities.
“More commercial locations with dedicated security systems — that’s what’s those are for," Assistant Chief Gearhart said.
You can sign up your cameras with Waco and Killeen Police — Temple police are also working to have these same capabilities in their community.
