Police Launch Neighborhood Surveillance Program: Cameras Wanted

BOULDER, CO -- A new initiative from the Boulder Police Department hopes to bring residents and businesses with surveillance cameras together to help solve crimes in the city. Advertised by the police department as a "community partnership", the program aims to create a registry of cameras around Boulder that it can use to expedite criminal investigations.

According to a press release from the Boulder Police Department, investigations often require time-intensive neighborhood canvasses in order to locate surveillance cameras that may have captured evidence related to a crime. By knowing camera locations ahead of time, police hope to speed up the process.

The department notes that often, the best available video evidence isn’t of the crime itself, but of the pathways and streets leading into and out of the area.

Community members considering signing up for the program should know that it will not give Boulder police the ability to freely access cameras, claim ownership or alter system functions. The release explains that if police believe a nearby camera might have captured something of interest, they would then request that the owner provide security video from that date and time of the incident.

Participation in this partnership is completely voluntary. All registered information will be kept confidential and will only be viewed by Boulder police personnel.

Sign-up and more information is available on the City of Boulder website.

Similar programs are already in effect in Longmont, Brighton, Castle Rock, and El Paso County.

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