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Des Moines Police Department unveils new community camera program

DES MOINES — Whether we’re ready for it or not, the holiday season is fast approaching. That means a lot of us might be getting more packages than usual d...

DES MOINES — Whether we’re ready for it or not, the holiday season is fast approaching. That means a lot of us might be getting more packages than usual delivered to our doorstep.

That also means taking extra steps to make sure those packages don’t get swiped.

Now, Des Moines police are hoping your personal security system might help out your neighbors too.

Whether it’s catching a porch pirate in action or another unwanted guest, a lot of people have security systems to help keep tabs on their front yard.

But those cameras often catch glimpses of more than just your own property. So police hope that you can help out your whole neighborhood.

Des Moines residents like Ali Pourian are using security systems like Ring or Nest to keep their home safe, even when they’re not around.

“I’ve been in my car in West Des Moines or on vacation and you can literally say hey, what do you need.”

Now, des Moines police are hoping people like Pourian volunteer to their personal cameras to help protect the whole community.

“People have cameras. So why not use them to help us solve crime!,” Sgt. Paul Parizek with Des Moine police said.

The new community camera program let’s homeowners register online, to tell law enforcement if there’s crime in the neighborhood, they can be counted on to lend their camera footage to help solve the case.

“What it does is it speeds up that neighborhood canvas. When we’re going door-to-door after a crime’s committed, that takes a lot of time,” Parizek said.

While some may worry that’s too many eyes on their property, Pourian’s on board.

“It is something I would consider doing because it only points out and it’s no different that what anybody could see from the street.”

The police department wants to make it clear, they’ll never have remote access to your cameras and they’ll never be able to get the footage without you being contacted first.

If you’d like to learn more about the program or register your camera, follow the link here.

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