A presentation on a voluntary Safe Neighbourhood Camera Registry was given by Forrest Green during the Moose Jaw Board of Police Commissioners meeting on Wednesday.
Forrest Green is already contracted through the Moose Jaw Police Service to allow residents to apply for criminal record checks online. The service comes at no charge since Moose Jaw is already a client.
The program allows residents to voluntarily register their home or business security cameras online. Police can then plot where cameras are located in the city and, if a crime occurs in the area, contact owners to ask if they are willing to share video.
Sharing footage would be completely voluntary, and police will not monitor live video through the program. Forrest Green will also have no access to any of the information collected.
“It’s just simply registering their camera. If there’s a crime in the area, then the police know where the cameras are, so it saves time driving around neighbourhoods trying to find out who’s got a camera, who doesn’t, and who might have some video,” said Forrest Green national vice-president Clive Weighill, the former Saskatchewan chief coroner and former Saskatoon police chief.
Currently, Weyburn, Estevan, Regina and Prince Albert have signed on to the program.
“Prince Albert was the very first one to come online. It’s a very new program for us. It just started last fall,” Weighill said.
“It took off very well in Prince Albert. Regina has even upped the game a bit and they’ve got over 1,000 people already registered.”
Saskatoon is the only municipality that hasn’t signed on. Weighill said Saskatoon has its own camera registry program, and the only reason it hasn’t joined is logistics.
Mayor James Murdock, chair of the Moose Jaw Board of Police Commissioners, said he was fully supportive of the project.
“I think it just brings that extra element for our local businesses and, of course, our residents with their homes — just to provide that little bit of extra security and peace of mind,” Murdock said.
Acting Chief Rick Johns said it will make policing in the city easier, but the program’s success will depend on how many people register their cameras.
“Our success will be based on the people that join it. We’re going to be making every effort we can through social media platforms, through our media partners, through other innovative ideas to get the message out that this exists,” Johns said.
“We hope we get the buy-in. We hope people go on the website and register their cameras.”
The website for registration is being developed. Johns did not provide a timeline for when it would go live, but said it should not take long.