Copyright Norfolk Virginian-Pilot
PORTSMOUTH — Police are hoping to boost public safety with the addition of nearly two dozen live cameras along Portsmouth’s High Street corridor and other areas being primed for development. The camera installations would add to the police department’s growing arsenal of surveillance throughout the city, which already includes at least 60 Flock cameras that operate as automated license plate reader cameras. Portsmouth Police Chief Stephen Jenkins has often touted the cameras as being a “force multiplier” for a department struggling to fill officer vacancies. But Jenkins also sees the additional cameras as a crime deterrent, especially in areas city leaders are working to build up with the attraction of new businesses and residents. Some of those areas include the waterfront, downtown and the new innovation district planned along High Street, called the LINC. Jenkins said the department is working to install 22 live-feed cameras by next summer that will stream into the department’s real-time crime center, where staff can monitor cameras and share details that help officers respond to crime calls. The center is overseen by a sworn officer and staffed with several civilians who volunteer to help each day. Jenkins said the cameras are estimated around $180,000 to $200,000 total and will come from the department’s budget. In addition to the live cameras and the Flock cameras, police also have a camera registry program through which businesses and residents can opt to share their camera feeds with police. When registered, police officers can access that camera’s feed if needed from an online portal after obtaining permission from the owner. To date, 472 cameras are registered, according to the Portsmouth Police Department. Camera owners can also “integrate” their cameras into the registry, which gives police direct access to those feeds. A total of 1,086 cameras across the city are “integrated” in the camera registry. Jenkins said the camera technology combined with the monitoring of cameras in the crime center has helped police respond to crimes quicker, with staff sometimes witnessing crimes as they happen. For example, Jenkins said the cameras recently helped officers identify and apprehend a group of people openly carrying firearms and shooting them into the air as well as locate where they stashed the guns. State lawmakers have considered expanding the use of the license plate reader cameras. But some experts have scrutinized the use of Flock cameras, raising privacy and data storage concerns without much public debate or weigh-in. Norfolk’s use of the cameras is at the center of a federal court case in which two local drivers argue it amounts to a search under the Fourth Amendment and therefore requires a warrant. The federal government has since filed a statement in support of Norfolk using such cameras. Natalie Anderson, 757-732-1133, natalie.anderson@virginiamedia.com
