Police are hoping to solve future crimes by doing a little legwork now and enlisting the help of high-tech silent witnesses throughout their communities.

Saint John, N.B. is among Canadian communities joining the digital crime fighting age through programs like iWatch – a voluntary system that gives investigators witnesses that never sleep.

Crimes are much easier to solve when police have a dependable witness that remembers precise details – something CCTV systems have been doing in Europe and major cities like London for some time.

But unfortunately for law enforcement and victims, smaller communities don’t always have the resources to establish and maintain camera systems strategically placed to cover the city.

Programs like iWatch enlist residents and businesses to register their external surveillance cameras on a mappable database.

"It assists officers in terms of canvassing the area and the time that’s required to do that,” Saint John Police Force spokesperson Sgt. Lori Magee told CBC this week. “So if we have video footage to refer to, there’s a stronger chance we’re going to be able to identify the culprit or the suspect in a matter.”

The city believes it will be a cost-effective way of using resources that are already deployed by members of the public.

“Should a crime occur in the vicinity of a registered camera, the police may contact the owner and request a copy of the video footage,” Saint John Police Force says on its website.

The video footage provided by citizens has not only helped solve crimes, but also assists in the investigation of missing persons and other public safety concerns, the police force said.

The Saint John registry began last fall and so far has about 60 businesses on board but few private citizens.

In addition to the list of cameras recording 24 hours a day, the city pairs the digital detectives with a mappable database on CrimeMapping.com – something that also tells community members when crimes are happening close to home.

Police personnel can then identify crime “hot spots,” types of crime occurring in different parts of the city, serial crimes and other patterns or trends.

Residents can also sign up to receive email alerts when crimes happen.

Roger Ringuette, of Munro’s Electronics in Saint John, told CBC more people are turning to security cameras to protect their homes and businesses.

"They’ve definitely become more popular,” he said. “It’s becoming a large part of my end of the AV business here at Munro’s.



"They’ve come down quite a bit in price and that I think is a main reason why they’re becoming more popular as well."

In the U.S., CrimeMapping.com lists hundreds of police forces across the United States – including major cities like Los Angeles.

Canadian communities have various systems for crime mapping. For example, some Ontario communities take part in the digital crime fighting revolution using websites like Crimeplot.com.

There are also networking co-operatives in Canada, such as Ontario’s OPTIC system (Ontario Police Technology Information Cooperative), which includes 43 municipal police services and the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

For police, having access to static video cameras and crime plotting are just additional weapons in the crime fighting arsenal.

In Britain, it’s said there are more CCTV cameras per person than anywhere in the world.

The use of the millions of cameras also raises valid privacy questions as communities are flooded with cameras covering public areas.

Queens University’s Surveillance Study Centre has looked at those questions for some time and examines research on those questions on its website.

With the explosion of cellphone cameras, the majority of citizens are also armed with the ability to tape crimes or accidents when they occur – giving digital testimony to what really happened.

Places like Dallas are finding citizens taking a more active role by sending video to police, while companies like ithinqware are also getting into the crime fighting game, making mobile apps that allow people to send in digital “tips” or video evidence.

The use of videotapes as evidence has put an untold number of criminals behind bars. But it also serves to keep police in check as well.

In Los Angeles this month, police shot and killed a homeless man during a struggle that was videotaped by bystanders. It is being used by investigators to determine whether police acted properly.

In Toronto, similar video of the police shooting of a youth on a streetcar resulted in criminal charges.

This week, video of a protest in Ferguson, Missouri recorded the moment when shots rang out hitting two police officers.

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#author: Glenn Johnson