By Staff
September 4th, 2106
BURLINGTON, ON
There was an attempted break in at a home in Burlington recently – the owner was in the house and managed to scare off the thief – but she was really rattled.
She of course called the police but by the time they arrived, which was quite promptly, the thief, who happened to be female thought to be perhaps in her early 50’s, was long gone.
However through a program the police use – Security Camera Registration and Monitoring program ( S.C.R.A.M) a community based crime prevention opportunity the police were able to capture some footage of the woman running from the area and the car she was believed to have been driving.
So what is S.C.R.A.M.? It is an investigative tool that enlists the help of Halton residents in helping to solve crimes
Community members voluntarily identify and register their residential video surveillance equipment through a simple, secure, confidential, online form located on the Halton Regional Police Service website.
Scroll down to the line that says Form to Register
Then scroll down on that form to the 5th box Security camera registration
All a person is doing when they register is letting the police know they have surveillance equipment. In the event that there is an incident in an area the police go to their data base to see if there are any cameras registered – if there are they give the owner of the camera a call and ask for permission to download the images.
The Halton police dearly wish they had been able to capture images of Helen Robertson, the 79 year old Alzheimer’s patient who wandered away from her home in Jul and has not been seen since.
The program is completely voluntary – you can say no thanks whenever you want.
A number of people wonder just what giving police access to your home security means. You are not giving the police any access when you register – what you are doing is letting the police know that you have an electronic security system. If there is a crime near your home the police will know that you have a security camera and may ask if they can look at what was captured by your camera.
You are under no obligation to hand over anything.
When investigating a crime the police usually end up going door to door hoping that someone may have seen something – if they knew where the security cameras were they could narrow down the search area.
Door to door can be a time-consuming endeavour as it may include a 360 radius around the crime scene. Armed with the knowledge of locations of security cameras, police can better focus their investigation. This has proven helpful in many investigations where suspect vehicles or suspects themselves have been picked up on third-party camera systems. Knowing a “direction” enables investigators to focus their attention on that particular path, even at considerable distances, where perhaps another camera may be located.
The objective of the program is primarily to build a database of camera locations in our community. Adding a security camera to your property is an excellent crime prevention tool, and is a way for you to protect your OWN property. Allowing the police quick access to potential recordings of crimes in progress is a way for citizens to help make our communities safer for everyone.
Check into it – we are safest when we take care of each other.
Related article:
A private surveillance helps police identify a suspect.
