Connect Reno is a new public safety program coming out of the Reno Police Department (RPD) that aims to build a network of home security cameras that can help police easily collect evidence in case of an incident.
According to the program website, "participation will greatly enhance emergency preparedness by enabling police, fire, and public safety professionals to better assess and rapidly respond to criminal activity and emergency situations."
The program relies on residents self registering or integrating their cameras to the network. As of Monday, the program had 230 cameras in the program.
The first level of participation is registering security cameras to a map of security cameras in Reno.
Registering a camera does not allow RPD to access a camera's live stream, and only lets investigators know that there is a camera at the participant's location. If an incident occurs, they will know to request video evidence from the participant and will reach out via email to ask for assistance in solving a crime.
Police will not be able to access a camera's video feed without explicit written permission from the owner of the camera.
The second level of participation is integrating security cameras into the program.
Integration allows RPD to access a participants camera feed in case of an emergency near your location.
Participants can choose whether they want to give police access to all of their security cameras or only a select few.
Participants wishing to integrate their cameras will receive a small fususCORE device that plugs into their camera system. Once set up, it enables camera sharing based on participant settings without impacting their network.
Those interested in learning more about the program can visit their website here: https://connectreno.org/.
(Reno Police Department assisted with this report.)
