Have a Camera on Your House? San Ramon Police Want to Know

From the San Ramon Police Department:

The San Ramon Police Department is unveiling another program in their arsenal of Crime Prevention strategies. The program is called “The Citizen’s View.” The new crime prevention and investigative tool is a registry of privately owned cameras across the city. The SRPD is encouraging residents and businesses to register their existing security cameras with the program called the Citizen’s View. The registry is kept confidential.

Businesses and residents are being asked to voluntarily register their surveillance cameras with the Police Department. Police will not have access to the footage but will be aware that a camera exists when investigating a crime in or around their neighborhood. If a crime occurs in their vicinity or adjoining
neighborhoods, the police may, if necessary, contact them and request a copy of their footage for evidence or investigative leads. The residents or business may have unknowingly recorded the crime, possible suspects or an escape route the criminals used.

The San Ramon Police routinely asks businesses and residents for footage from their camera following criminal activity. In recent years, video footage has become imperative as an investigative tool and key to solving crimes. Attempting to contact every resident or business looking for footage is time consuming and not always feasible. The Citizen’s View program is a more efficient way to investigate crimes and partner with the community. Instead of canvassing the area looking for cameras, we will have access to the registry to expedite the investigative process. Criminals don’t like being caught on video and will think twice if they know San Ramon residents and business share their footage with the police. Several residents and businesses already have security cameras in our city and are always willing to assist their police department. We want to make it easier for residents and get more people involved in keeping their community safe.

The process is easy: For more information or to register, log on to the San Ramon Police Department website at www.sanramon.ca.gov/police. Enter the Citizen’s View webpage to print the registry form and WARNING sign for your residence or business. When the police receive your form, a police employee will contact you to verify the information. In the future the San Ramon
Police Department will only contact you if they feel your camera may have captured a crime or investigative lead. Help keep your community safe. Let’s make San Ramon an undesirable place for criminals.