GREENFIELD, Ind. — Police in Greenfield just launched two new ways to partner with the public and curb crime: an app and a mapped registry for security cameras. They're trying to get more tips, more video, more bad people off the streets.
The map of security cameras just launched Tuesday and shows registered spots throughout the city. If there's an incident or a crime, officers can look at the map and reach out to see if cameras captured a suspect, a car, some evidence to help the investigation and solve crimes more quickly.
"We'd say. 'Hey, we've had an incident in this area. We'd like for you to look at your system and see if your camera caught anything going on in the last 20 minutes or a specific time frame,'" Greenfield Police Deputy Chief Chuck McMichael said. "So it saves our investigators and our patrol folks a lot of time, going door to door to door to identify, 'OK did they have a Ring camera? Are there are other cameras on the exterior of the home that may have captured something?'"
With the registry, officers want to make it clear: they cannot see your cameras or link to them at all.
It's simply a list of locations and what kind of camera is in use.
"We have no access to their system. We don't have logins, passwords. We can't pull up live feeds. We can't do any of that," McMichael said.
The other technology piece is the Greenfield Police app. It shares crime alerts with the public and also lets people report tips anonymously.
You can also upload a picture or video and even chat back and forth with a detective — all of it anonymously.
"Let's say I suspect that somebody is maybe selling drugs out of their home or something. I can send that information either through the app or through the text message service and have a two-way convo with a detective or one of our patrol supervisors," McMichael said.
Police apps for tips are becoming more popular. They're in use in 2,300 communities nationwide.
Greenfield police hope both programs help officers and the public become partners in stopping crime.