Residents of Colorado county, businesses can volunteer to share surveillance to help solve crimes

Residents and business owners in a Colorado county can now help solve crimes by sharing their doorbell or security camera footage with law enforcement. 

\Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office recently launched the Community Camera Watch Program, and the law enforcement agency is encouraging residents and business owners to sign up.

It's a voluntary program. By registering, community members make ACSO aware that a private property or business has cameras, and those individuals are willing to share recordings in case a crime is investigated in proximity.

"Any photograph or video that we can get of a crime just helps us put more pieces together and sometimes will solve the crime," Deputy Meyer told CBS Colorado. "Sometimes it prevents the next crime if we can keep them out of the neighborhoods."

Deputy Meyer is part of the ACSO Community Resources Unit and says a lot of crimes are caught on camera, whether it be bike thefts, car break-ins or wanted suspects and vehicles. Other times, cameras can help tell the story of a crime.

"There have been some really big cases that we've been able to take a Ring picture and then use it, or if we have a license plate number, put that into that, and we're able to track where those cars have been," Meyer explained. "Any cameras that can get a picture of the suspects or a picture of the vehicle they're in helps us connect the dots, so we're able to identify the suspects in those types of crimes."

Meyer knows cameras are also a powerful tool during investigations.

"A picture is worth 1,000 words," Meyer said. "If we can get a video of an event, it is so much more useful to us than just relying on witness statements."

When people register for the program, the sheriff's office can easily identify video sources in the neighborhood, showing which homes or businesses have voluntarily signed up to offer their video.

"The main thing for us is it saves on staffing time," Meyer said. "So instead of canvassing a neighborhood and going door to door to door and looking and seeing where the cameras are at, we're able to look on a map, and it'll identify what houses have cameras."

Jim Noon happily signed up for the program and shared information about where his camera faces.

"The camera points east, and it basically takes up my driveway. It'll get the mailbox all the way to the to the other exit," Noon said. "If someone tried to break in here, it's nice to have it."

Noon believes it's another tool investigators have that also encourages public safety.

"When I saw they were doing this, I thought this is an excellent idea," Noon said. "We might as well have as much crime fighting as humanly possible. So, if I can help by having my camera here, that's the more the merrier. I'm pleased to do it."

The sheriff's office will not have live or recorded access to people's cameras. If video can help with an investigation, deputies will reach out to participants by phone or email. Participants are not obligated to share your footage and you can say no.  

Meyer says a larger database will help make investigations more efficient and solve crimes even quicker.

"It's a great tool, and, really, what this does is takes us to the next level," Meyer said. "We'd love to have as many people as possible sign up for the program to help solve some of these crimes and hopefully prevent a few and make our job a little bit easier."