New Charles County Camera Program Aims to Solve Crime Faster

By Michelle Basch

Residents of Charles County can help deputies solve crimes more quickly through a new program.

The program, called Virtual Crime Watch, encourages home and business owners who have security cameras to register them with the Charles County Sheriff’s Office.

Registering doesn’t mean officers will be able to access your cameras whenever they want. It just means your name will be added to a private database of people in the county who own buildings with cameras. The database will be accessible only to law enforcement.

Then, if a crime happens near your home, investigators might contact you to find out if your cameras captured video of what happened.

“Providing us with the location of your security camera has the potential to help us apprehend or identify criminals faster,” Sheriff Troy Berry said.

“As officers respond to criminal incidents, they may be able to use the information or footage from the security camera to assist in the apprehension and prosecution of the criminals involved, thus keeping our communities safer.”

To register your cameras, visit CrimeReports and click on “Register Camera.” Then click on “Register” to create an account with an email and password.

The sheriff’s office has put together a video that walks residents through the process.

As part of Maryland Matters’ content sharing agreement with WTOP, we feature this article from Michelle Basch. Click here for the WTOP News website.

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