Wheaton police department’s new safety initiative relies on security cameras

The Wheaton Police Department is enlisting the public’s help with a new safety initiative, Connect Wheaton. This program consists of an online security camera registry at www.connectwheaton.org where residents and businesses can register the location of their security cameras with the Wheaton Police Department to help expedite emergency response and crime investigations.

Being able to determine where there are security cameras, including video doorbells, home security systems and commercial surveillance cameras, enhances the police department’s response efforts. With this information, detectives can quickly determine if video evidence might be available at a particular location and whom to contact to request it.

Residents and businesses can register their cameras with Wheaton police through the self-service portal at connectwheaton.org. Your information will be kept confidential and only accessed in the event of a criminal investigation or emergency incident.

Camera registration does not give live video access to police, and officers can only access camera location information when an incident occurs. In the event of a theft for example, police may request a recorded video from a store owner to quicken the process of evidence gathering.

In addition to the security camera registry, businesses or residents can choose to upgrade their video security systems to include live video feeds to the Wheaton Police Department using a small CORE device on their network.

To preserve privacy, the camera owner chooses how and when their video streaming is available to the police department. During an emergency, this optional service would allow a business or residence to activate live streaming via a smartphone app or panic button, so the police department would receive a real-time feed of an emergency situation.

For more information or to register your security camera(s), visit www.connectwheaton.org.