Project: Register Every Camera Started by Florida Police Department

Well here is an interesting crime fighting tool started by the PD in my city. Project REC strives to have business and private citizens register their surveillance cameras with the PD to make it easier to locate possible footage of crimes when reported nearby. So it goes, if you, Joe Citizen, have cameras around the property, you can voluntarily register this with the police. If say, a burglary or other crime goes down on your block, they will contact you to review your footage for any possible clues and leads to the case. Same goes with local businesses. Its good that the program is voluntary, and is another tool in building trust within the community for law enforcement. This will help supplement existing tactics of going door to door asking everyone if they saw anything.

Tampa PD, community to keep digital eye on crime with new tool
TAMPA --

The Tampa Police Department is teaming up with residents and business owners to keep a digital eye on crime. A new program called “Project REC,” which stands for Register Every Camera, is being launched to help solve crimes and capture criminals quickly.

Residents and business owners with surveillance cameras can voluntarily register with Project REC, which allows police to quickly locate cameras in an area where a crime has occurred and, with the owners’ permission, view footage from the video.

Residents and business owners are not always aware that their video surveillance system may have captured vital information that could identify a suspect.

The REC network will help police quickly contact any subscriber in the area, as opposed to the time-consuming and ineffective task of going door-to-door through neighborhoods asking for information.

Each Project REC subscriber will receive a window decal from the department which will showcase their participation in the program and hopefully help to deter crimes from taking place at their home and in their neighborhood.

Project REC is a voluntary program that is managed by the Tampa Police Department to ensure personal information is kept secure and confidential.
What are the benefits of registering your camera?

I am actually just outside the jurisdiction and am serviced by the county. Anybody have a similar project in their municipalities?? This is kind of interesting.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

The cynic in me thinks the cops just wanna know where all the cameras are.

But seriously, if someone had evidence relating to a crime why wouldn't they already voluntarily turn it over?

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Following the slippery slope: after registering, the next step will be to upload a live feed of the video signal to a server at the police station for automatic face recognition analysis. For freedom, of course.

Project: Register Every Camera Started by Florida Police Department

No.

That means your new car since they all have them now.

That means your smart phones they all have them.

That means your smart tv's they all have them.

That means all your laptops,tablets. They all have them.

NO.

NO!

This has gone way beyond what Orwell imagined.

a reply to: rockintitz

Residents and business owners are not always aware that their video surveillance system may have captured vital information that could identify a suspect.

a reply to: neo96

Residents and business owners with surveillance cameras can voluntarily register with Project REC, which allows police to quickly locate cameras in an area where a crime has occurred and, with the owners’ permission, view footage from the video.

You could technically register, and still refuse to cooperate. Although that would be odd. Don't you want to help fight and prevent crime in your community??

are they gathering IP addresses for cameras as well?

Who is funding this exercise?

a reply to: worldstarcountry

I know every ounce of power they take has been abused.

So I refuse to give any more.

The only function of law enforcement is to clean up AFTER the fact.

originally posted by: rockintitz
a reply to: worldstarcountry

The cynic in me thinks the cops just wanna know where all the cameras are.

But seriously, if someone had evidence relating to a crime why wouldn't they already voluntarily turn it over?

Because people always do the right thing, right?

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan
Its funded in house by the TPD. All it is is a database of volunteers with the following T&C:

all Camera Registration Program participants agree to the following terms and conditions:

• The Tampa Police Department will keep information provided by the registrant confidential and not disclose that information to third parties except as reasonably necessary to fulfill lawful responsibility or in accordance with law enforcement practices.
  
• Under no circumstances shall registrants construe that they are acting as an agent and/or employee of the Tampa Police Department through the Tampa Police Camera Registration Program.
  
• At no time will Tampa Police Department have direct access to your camera or camera system.
  
• If necessary, the Tampa Police Department will contact you directly, using the information provided on this site, to request video evidence relevant to a criminal investigation.
  
• Absent a court order the registrant may deny access to the video or video system.
  
• At any time, the registrant can request the Tampa Police Department remove their registration record from the Camera Registration database.
  

This city is really good about outlining the fine print and making sure the pubic is in full knowledge about aspects of any program. That transparency goes for anything passed by the city council as well.

The registration page is fairly basic in what you are willing to volunteer.

Simple, it's how it begins, the erosion of privacy at a more local level through the guise of a neighborhood watch headed by PDs. What other steps will they take if people are willing to comply voluntarily? Window droning in the name of safety-see the latest news on that-?

Thanks but no thanks......

I don't even plug my camera system into the internet. If something in my neighborhood happens I'll do the right thing and provide any video I have. But I don't need barney down at the local PD logging into my camera systems to watch me take a leak off my back porch or wrestle the wife in the pool.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

Internal funding is, in theory, positive. Assuming the funds aren't being washed through the departments internal accounts, and are sourced from uncle sam in actuality.

I guess you understand that ATSers tend to distrust data collection of any kind. Im pretty stereotypical in that regard.

originally posted by: neo96
Project: Register Every Camera Started by Florida Police Department

No.

That means your new car since they all have them now.

That means your smart phones they all have them.

That means your smart tv's they all have them.

That means all your laptops,tablets. They all have them.

NO.

NO!

This has gone way beyond what Orwell imagined.

Well there's excellent news for you! It's VOLUNTARY.

Did read past the title?

It's just so the police have a decent head start when looking for footage of crimes.

a reply to: worldstarcountry
a) I'm one of those optimistic Liberal types.
b) This is creepy. I see the value...but it's SO open to abuse.

originally posted by: JohnnyCanuck
a reply to: worldstarcountry
a) I'm one of those optimistic Liberal types.
b) This is creepy. I see the value...but it's SO open to abuse.

as a business person, i think its great. I know few legit businesses who aren't happy to spend their own time copy over video files for police officers. The most recent location i worked in, we had an external hard drive that belonged to the local PD that we kept. There were incidents on a weekly basis that we'd need to send in video of, since we had a bar and there were 2 other bars on our corner. we had a detective that would swap out hard drives and send us emails for dates/times he needed each monday.

This cooperation worked well for us....the country judge instituted a zone surrounding the property that resulted in double fines for offenses committed on our property. So we didn't get much in the way of trouble from locals aware of the stiff penalties.

As a private citizen...good luck getting video from me.

a reply to: JohnnyCanuck
It really is not open to abuse considering the terms and conditions, and that even volunteer registrants still have the right to deny any access to said footage. I don't even have surveillance cameras, but my neighbor does.

I would infer that anybody who is registered and routinely denies access to footage will be assumed as trolls by the PD and simply unregistered from the program.

I mean seriously, the CIA and NSA already have real time access to your phone and home PC, how could a voluntary local program be scarier than that??
Here is the registration form, even though I already linked it.


This will probably work wonders in the Sulpher Springs and USF neighborhoods. There are already cameras in those communities though placed on utility poles with flashing blue lights providing a 24/7 live feed of the area due to the inflated crime rates from drugs and gangs. Its limited to a few specific blocks though.

a reply to: worldstarcountry

"Absent a court order the registrant may deny access to the video or video system"

Doesn't sound voluntary to me.

Sounds like if there's something they want on the video they now know you have, they can just have a judge order it, despite your apprehensions.

Seems like another method of getting the public to manage it's own surveillance and pay for the hardware too.

An extension of the "see something, say something" scheme?

originally posted by: rockintitz
But seriously, if someone had evidence relating to a crime why wouldn't they already voluntarily turn it over?

That would require being aware that a crime has taken place near the area covered by their cameras. They may not have made a point of keeping themselves fully informed on all local crimes.

a reply to: SlowNail
Well if that is a concern, then there is a simple solution. Do not register. As a contrast, FAA has made drone registration mandatory as of a couple years back, but how many people actually do so?? There is no legislation forcing businesses to file paperwork at point of sale.

A court order in this case means a warrant. It would have to be a pretty serious crime to justify that, such as rape or murder or possibly kidnapping. And then, they would have to prove to the judge their is a definitive shot of the criminal act or suspect within the line of sight of the camera based on the existing information of viewing angles and such. Buuuuut... again, all this is even assuming someone volunteered to be part of the database and the authorities have knowledge of existing camera placement. otherwise, it would be a case of "hey do those cameras work? can you get us a copy of xyz time and date recording?" "no sir, I just put them out here to scare away potential thieves."

And there you have it. Destroy the evidence if you feel like not cooperating and fear a court order. Although it is fully within ones right to not cooperate or assist in an investigation of a murder, rape, or kidnapping in ones own neighborhood. It begs the question, "why even bother having the cameras up at all?"

Just updated to 16 HD cameras that record constantly because I don't know the software to set the motion activated record. 2TB we have tourist issues during the summer that seem to think our deck is a nice place to hang out. Haven't shot anyone yet but they are begging for it.