Minneapolis Police Want Local Businesses To Join Virtual Security Network

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- The Minneapolis Police Department is looking to partner with business owners in the fight against crime.

Its new program will give officers an immediate connection to cameras already in place at local businesses. And as police say, it's a force multiplier.

For the past 10 years, the city of Minneapolis has used its network of cameras to capture crimes as they happen and bring justice to those responsible. The Minneapolis Police Department now wants to add to its arsenal of cameras by asking businesses to join a virtual security network.

"Just in the way this system works is that the members, the camera owners specifically in the private sector, are in charge of their video access," Securo Founder Justin Williams said.

Williams says business owners register their security camera locations online at no cost. A request for footage will come from investigators when they are looking into crimes near that business that may have been caught on camera.

That security network was instrumental in the arrests of the young people involved in the St. Patrick's Day melee in downtown Minneapolis.

"If you look on any block in downtown Minneapolis and look at the building, there are cameras all over the place. So being able to leverage those resources again with the goal of providing evidence, video evidence on crimes taking place, I think its key to enhancing public safety," Police Commander Scott Gerlicher said.

Gerlicher says the system is only as good as the number of people registered. Right now, 400 cameras from businesses are a part of the network. Minneapolis police would like to see that number triple by the end of the year.

"It's very important to use video evidence to determine what happened or who did it, but it's also important to us to use video evidence to determine who wasn't involved or direction of travel," Gerlicher said.

The Minneapolis Police department would like to expand this program into Uptown, West Broadway, Dinkytown and Lake Street. Police say this partnership saves investigators time because they won't have to go door-to-door to try to get evidence when crime happens.