This SC county’s cops using private video under new program to solve crimes. How it works

Law enforcement agencies in Greenville County have started programs where residents or business owners can register their surveillance cameras to help solve crimes.

Greenville Police call their SafeWatch, Greenville County Sheriff’s Office is Connect Greenville County.

So far, 185 cameras have been registered and 277 have been signed up to allow deputies to look live at their cameras.

Some organizations, including the ACLU, have criticized such programs as unnecessary prying into people’s lives. In San Francisco, the city used live access to watch protestors, the Electronic Frontier Foundation reported. It and the ACLU have filed a lawsuit over the alleged incident.

But Lt. Quincy Whitner of the Greenville County Sheriff’s Office said the use of the FUSUS technology is not to watch citizens but to catch criminals.

“It is completely controlled by the public,” he said.

If someone registers their camera, the system tells law enforcement where cameras are located. They cannot see what is recorded without the owner’s permission. If a crime is reported, they can quickly see where cameras are located and contact the owners.

But another level of registration, which comes with a fee, gives officers access to the live feed as they investigate a report of a crime.

Deputy Carrie Weimer said during an episode of the Sheriff’s Office Roll Call weekly program she could see that being especially beneficial to businesses, especially those that make a lot of reports such as gas stations, retail and banks.

Whitner said it is a time saver. The livestream ability gives responding officers an early look at what happened and a possible identification of a suspect. The technology has an audit log of who looks at the camera feed.

“Camera owners have the ability to choose how and when their cameras are accessible to the sheriff’s office,” the Sheriff’s Office said on its website. “For example, private businesses and schools may choose to only have their cameras accessible to Greenville County Sheriff’s Office deputies when an emergency situation arises and they activate the live streaming capability via a panic button. Private residents and neighborhoods can also have the option to do so or completely opt out.”

The system has already proven useful in an ambush shooting of Greenville Police Officer Giordano Alberto as he sat in a patrol car at the Greenville Law Enforcement Center. Officers were able to quickly track the suspect, who killed himself at the end of a police pursuit.