The Manhattan Beach Police Department is inviting residents and businesses to voluntarily register their security cameras with the department to help solve crimes.
The department announced the move in a notice sent out on Feb. 18.
“The camera registration program will not replace the current practice of officers and detectives walking the neighborhood and contacting locations for video evidence,” the press release quoted Police Chief Eve Irvine as saying. “However, it will allow the police department to expedite our investigations in a collaborative effort with our community.”
The department won’t be able to directly access the footage and will only ask those on the registry for tape if they believe it would be helpful for a specific investigation, it said.
Lieutenant Christian Eichenlaub said the department had been considering the move for a while and that the Hermosa Beach Police Department provided them with information about Hermosa’s camera registry program.
Mayor Mark Burton mentioned creating such a registry when he was inaugurated as mayor in July last year.
“One of our missions is to make Manhattan Beach the safest beach city,” he said.
He said the police department’s move was prompted by the council’s direction in November to explore four potential security-related measures, including a registry, the installation of license plate readers, foot beats and to increase Neighborhood Watch participation, which is currently at 70 percent.
Staff is scheduled to report back on its research at the April 5 council meeting, Burton said.
The issue of surveillance cameras came to the forefront recently when a resident and her friend were held up at gunpoint outside of her house on 41st Street on Dec. 9 after walking home from a local restaurant. The victim reviewed the restaurant’s surveillance video and identified the car used in the robbery. The footage was handed over to the police. The car’s timing in the video indicated that it had been driving around for a while before it followed her and her friend home, and so the woman asked anyone in the El Porto neighborhood to share any surveillance video they had from the evening.
The incident disturbed some residents who asked the city council and police department to increase patrols in the area and install security cameras or license plate readers at the neighborhood’s exit and entrance points at the Dec. 15 council meeting and in an online petition. Police increased patrols by marked cars in the area in response.
To register a surveillance camera, go to citymb.info/mbpdcams. ER
