Home Surveillance A Valuable Resource For Police

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RICHARDSON (CBSDFW.COM) - Chances are, either you or someone you know has a home security systemand if your home is in Richardson, police there want to know, too.

This is strictly a voluntary program, says Crime Prevention Officer Mike Wieczorek. We put you on a list of contacts, and then when something happens, we ask you to look into your system, review your footage, and then recontact us with anything you find.

With home surveillance systems dropping in price in recent years, the security cameras have become more common serving up gotcha moments at the push of a button: whether thats a delivery man behaving badly, or a crook caught in the act.

And Richardson homeowner Leo Pease knows that well. This lady come out the house and she was crying, says Pease, And I said, well, Ill go back and check my camera and thats when I found it.

Sure enough, Peases surveillance video helped catch a burglar and recover the neighbors belongings. And he wasnt alone. Home security video was showing up so often in police investigations, that crime prevention officers proposed putting together a database of homeowners who might have video to share.

Now, they can pull up a map of the city and they can see plotted on the map everywhere that we have homes with video surveillance, so its become a great tool, says Officer Wieczorek.

Signing up is simple. Just head to the Richardson police website, click on Crime Prevention and then navigate to Neighborhood Video Crime Watch.

Thats why they call me all the time, says Pease with a chuckle, Im on their list. And then with a thoughtful pause, Its a good list to be on.

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Home Surveillance A Valuable Resource For Police