Fort Worth Police have revamped their community camera program and added some new tools to help officers investigate cases more quickly and efficiently.
The original program was launched in 2016, and essentially told police that addresses registered in the database had security cameras, said Fort Worth Police Department spokesperson Buddy Calzada.
“This one just has a lot more information you can provide: Give us the total amount of cameras, tell us which direction it’s pointing," he explained.
He said registering your camera doesn't automatically give officers access to them; they still have to ask you for your video. But, he said, the database helps them catch criminals more quickly, especially because officers can access it from their cars.
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“We know that we need to look east of a specific residence, and they have an east-facing camera, we’re going to go right to them," Calzada explained. “We don’t want this criminal that has committed a crime to get away further or be able to change a vehicle when we can access that information or evidence a lot quicker.”
Before the program, he explained officers would have to go door-to-door, trying to see if folks had security cameras that could help them in their case.
Calzada said the revamp makes it easier for folks to register online in both English and Spanish.
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For the first time, businesses can also give police access to a live feed.
“There may be a business that has a commercial alarm that goes off in the middle of the night, nobody’s working there. We can actually go in and see what is happening. Gather evidence from that, but also give officers that are in route up-to-date information as it’s happening," Calzada said.
He said access to a live feed could also help if someone in a business has been injured or incapacitated.
“If there’s a violent crime that may happen, and they’re only able to hit the alarm, and not give us any details, with this, we can see what is taking place live and what is going on," he said.
Megan Rabon, owner of House of Hair Fort Worth, can see why others might want to give police that access, but said it's not for her.
“Maybe I would like a little bit more privacy," she said.
But she thinks registering her cameras is a good idea, and plans to do so, especially after an incident in October, when a man walked into her salon.
“He was kind of wobbling around, he didn’t say anything," Rabon recalled.
The suspect ended up firing shots nearby. Rabon shared her surveillance video with the police.
No one was hurt, and the suspect was arrested.
“Thank goodness for the cameras," Rabon said.
She still feels safe at her salon on Bluebonnet Circle just south of Texas Christian University, where she grew up.
“I always tell everybody, this is the heart of Fort Worth, right next to TCU; It’s a very safe area. Six years have been amazing, through COVID, through everything," she said.
But she thinks it's a good idea to register her security cameras with the police, especially after her close call in the fall.
“We were on lockdown for at least three or four hours. It didn’t really hit me until after I got off work, I was like PTSD kind of, like, ‘I can’t believe that just happened. That could’ve been bad,'" she said. “That’s a prime example why I would want to do it.
