LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — Lexington Police have a new tool for investigating crimes and giving officers an extra set of eyes in some emergency situations. A new system will bring private security cameras into a database of other city cameras that police can use in emergency situations and investigations.
Andre Maxberry knows more than most about the importance of solving crimes. She's lost two grandsons to shootings in Lexington - no one has been brought to justice.
"We probably would have had an arrest made by now if they had better cameras and more people in this community cooperated in giving footage to the police," she said.
She's optimistic about the new technology Lexington Police are using. It's called Fūsus. It allows Lexington Police to see every traffic camera and information from Flock license plate reader on a map and pull up live video when they're responding to situations. It will also connect them with private citizens who have their own security cameras. People can register their cameras with police so that when a crime happens, police can see where their cameras are and instantly send them a message to see if they have any video that might help them.
"Right now investigators, if they go out in the middle of the night, they are knocking on doors, they’re shutting flashlights, trying to find cameras, trying to find sources, that’s an extremely inefficient way to try to find. If our community registers those cameras, at least our detectives will have a list to go off of two at least have a starting point and that then will lead them to maybe the next person and the next person," said Commander Matthew Greathouse at a press conference Wednesday announcing the system.
Police can also send out mass notifications to people in a selected area, asking that they check their cameras for useful video.
"We would like to just know you have a camera in the area. It’s good for us to have that ability to go directly to you and reach out to you electronically to see if you had any video that may be related to a criminal incident that you wish to share," Greathouse said.
When it comes to privacy concerns, police say they will not have access to view live video from those cameras - with an exception. People and businesses can choose to buy a particular camera that integrates into the Fūsus system, opt-in to sharing that video, and pay a yearly fee. In those cases, police could tap into a live video feed when responding to an incident.
"We’re not looking into your camera system unless there’s a call for service in your area so nobody’s just randomly searching through cameras or looking at traffic cameras or anything like that unless there’s an active public safety response," Greathouse said.
Mayor Linda Gorton said the city will pay $150,000 for the service.
"My assumption would be is that anybody that had a criminal act portrayed against them, or in their area would want to share that video with the police department so we could bring that person to justice," Greathouse said.
That's the way Andre Maxberry sees it.
"I understand people don't want to get involved, but what if it was you? What if it was your loved one? Wouldn't you want something done?" she said.
Anyone who is interested in registering their camera can visit www.ConnectLex.org to learn more.
