Baltimore City Council is considering a rebate program for people who register their Ring or Nest cameras with the city. This photo is a closeup of Nest home surveillance camera. In this July 16, , photo, Ernie Field pushes the doorbell on his doorbell camera at his home in Wolcott, Connecticut. The Baltimore City Council wants to incentivize more people to buy these kinds of surveillance systems and partner with the police department to share footage that could help officers tackle crime in their neighborhoods.
The idea is supported by the majority of the all-Democratic council, and the public safety committee will hold a hearing Thursday on the bill. Democratic Mayor Bernard C. Already in some parts of the city, residents have launched their own networks of home security cameras to compare images of people who steal packages and break into homes.
There are hundreds of such devices around the Patterson Park neighborhood and observations from the footage have contributed to arrests. Police say it helps solve and prevent burglaries in the area. This program would ease that burden. They question who will have access to the recordings, how long footage will be preserved and how secure footage is from hackers.
Jay Stanley, a senior policy analyst with the ACLU, said the group worries about residents feeling coerced into handing over their private videos to law enforcement. The city has its own network of about closed-circuit cameras, and in May is expected to allow a private company to start flying three surveillance planes over Baltimore as it aims to stem an unrelenting wave of violence.
The CitiWatch Community Partnership is a voluntary program linking the police department and residents. Then, detectives can reach out specifically to people who may have potential video evidence. City officials were not able to provide a number Tuesday of how many people already have registered systems with the city. The footage may be used as evidence during a criminal proceeding.
