Fairfax County is asking area residents and businesses to register their security cameras. The new voluntary program, Connect Fairfax County, could help local police more easily gather video evidence.
According to the county’s website, the program is intended to “greatly enhance emergency preparedness by enabling police, fire, and public safety professionals to better assess and rapidly respond to criminal activity and emergency situations. It will also enable investigators to easily gather evidence in case of an incident.”
WTOP interviewed Cpt. Hudson Bull, commander of Fairfax County’s Real-Time Crime Center, about the program. Bull said that more 50 registrants have provided the location of a camera. Police add these to a mapping system for detectives to review in case of a crime or other emergency. “The digital evidence leads the way in our investigations many times, and this will help us gather more digital evidence so that we can solve cases quickly,” Bull said.
For example, in the case of a missing person, “The best piece of evidence that we can get, short of finding that person, is a video of that person in the area, so we can better relocate our search to where that person could be,” Bull explained.
The program offers the option to simply register your security cameras. Or, you can take it a step further and give the county direct access to your camera feed.
You can register your camera by logging into a secure online portal. This does not allow the Fairfax County Police Department access to your live video stream. It just lets investigators know that a security camera is at your location in case they need to request video evidence. The website also offers instruction for allowing the county direct access to your video feed.
Feature image, thoif/stock.adobe.com
