ADG: Little Rock police moving into second phase of real-time crime center integrating citizen video feeds

Ark. Dem.-Gaz.: Little Rock police moving into second phase of real-time crime center by Grant Lancaster (new LRPD HQ “Crime Center will use cameras of residents” feeding into central video database). Networking video surveillance and doorbell cams. If we are here, so are others. This is maybe just the first publicity of it.

Little Rock police on Friday began letting residents and businesses register or directly integrate their security cameras with the agency’s Real-Time Crime Center in what officials described as phase two of implementing the new technology in the city.

The rollout plan, called Connect Little Rock, gives residents or business owners who already have doorbell cameras or other security cameras the option to share the footage captured by their cameras with police in one of two ways, neither of which would involve police regularly monitoring their footage, said Maj. Ty Tyrrell, head of the agency’s Headquarters Division.

The first way is to register a camera with police through connectlittlerock.org, which simply lets police know a camera is present at a given location, without giving officers access to live or recorded footage from it, Tyrrell said.

If a crime occurs, investigators can contact the camera’s owner and ask to review the footage. Even if they register their cameras, people are not obligated to share the footage. Footage can be shared by email, and police will only save a copy of the video if it is thought to contain worthwhile evidence.

“They tell us when and how they want us to access their cameras,” Tyrrell said.

The second option, which is geared toward businesses that are likely to have numerous cameras, is to directly integrate their cameras with the crime center at police headquarters on Markham Street.