STARKVILLE – Starkville Police Department is looking to get assistance from local businesses and residents in the department’s expanding surveillance program.
Started in 2021 as a way to monitor crime more efficiently, the Starkville Community Camera Registry has grown to include 804 residential cameras and 714 business cameras, the SPD website said.
“It fits a modern-day lifestyle where you can move quickly on capturing information,” Police Chief Mark Ballard said. “It’s based on (volunteers) because this is an important point. Public safety is a shared responsibility between our police department and our community.”
The program aids the police by giving voluntary access to live feeds from integrated business cameras in the program and the ability to request footage from residential cameras in the registry, Ballard said.
“We’re not going door to door, trying to track (people), as in the old days,” he said. “… (It) is a modern-day, very fast system.”
The program does not give the police access to any footage or feeds of registered or integrated cameras without permission from camera owners, Ballard said.
“We push out the information and they volunteer to send it,” he said.
Ballard said officers use the registry to request specific footage from camera owners in areas of investigative interest, simplifying the investigation process and solidifying evidence.
“A camera doesn’t get sick, it doesn’t catch the flu, it’s not inebriated. A camera catches details that the human eye will miss, and so that specific information is very important,” Ballard said.
“… Because it allows the jury to see what took place, not from a third party standpoint,” he later added.
In roughly three months, Ballard said the department gathered 218 pieces of video evidence used in 41 cases. Partners’ footage is used not only in aiding criminal investigations but everything from car collision disputes to cases of property damage.
“By having an integrated system, we’re able to go in and pull the cameras that they choose, pull the data, the information and review for a possible lead of a vehicle, (or) of a suspect,” Ballard said. “At the end of the day, the criminal committing the crime still has to run, walk, ride. (They’ve) got to get to the location somehow, and there’s a high probability they’re doing it in front of someone’s camera.”
The department has continued to send out social media posts asking community members and local businesses with camera systems to volunteer to join the program. Residents can join the program by registering their camera online or a business can choose to integrate its cameras by going to the website and ordering an AxonFusus device to be added to its camera system.
John Bean, president and CEO of Eat With Us Group, integrated outdoor cameras at four of his Starkville restaurants into the program, including Harvey’s, Central Station Grill, Sweet Peppers Deli and Bulldog Burger Co. because he wanted to join the police in making Starkville safer, he said.
“I hope in a small way, we’ve contributed toward helping local law enforcement do their job, and we’re significantly invested in Starkville,” Bean said. “… It’s a great community, and I think this is kind of forward thinking, and we’re happy to participate.”
Ballard said the department also has partners who provide footage outside of its jurisdiction that could aid in future cross-agency investigations.
“This is a program that can quickly partner with other jurisdictions and it’s something that we’re looking to do as we continue to build our regional awareness,” Ballard said.
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