Dayton city officials to vote on use of technology to access private cameras
Dayton Police are hoping to get final approval to create a real-time information and video gathering service to protect downtown safety.
The use of FUSUS Real-Time Crime Center technology would provide live feeds to officers dealing with various investigations. Homeowners or business owners would have the option to opt-in and allow either constant access or access upon request to their private video streams.
In downtown Dayton, there are hundreds of cameras that show the front doors of businesses and apartment buildings and that is what the police department wants to tap into.
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Dayton Police Maj. Jimmy Mullins, Central Business District Commander, told News Center 7 that the FUSUS system is already used in Ohio cities like Cleveland and Toledo. Video from businesses that opt in would go live into a central core that could then be sent as a live video feed to officers in the field once a critical incident is declared.
“We have eyes on at that point, it’s not just another witness that couldn’t remember if it was a gray jacket or a blue jacket,” Mullins said.
Mullins said the system would be very valuable when chaotic events unfold, like the shots that were fired during the Dayton Children’s parade in November. Police made an arrest about a week later after very slow evidence gathering.
“It took us over five days to get any video for that incident,” Mullins explained.
Not everyone is excited about this plan, as News Center 7 found out.
Julio Matteo, of Dayton, served on one of the Police Reform Oversight Committee and told city commissioners that, to his knowledge, “there are no independent evaluations that support the effectiveness of FUSUS to increase safety or reduce crime.”
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Some residents also expressed concerns about adverse impacts on certain groups of the population and of unrestricted video tracking of unsuspecting people. Police said there are safeguards built into the system to prevent that.
“We can’t just pull up a camera that’s in the system and use if for surveillance,” Mullins said.
The first round of this project will not include home ring cameras, it would just be downtown and use business cameras. If everything goes smoothly, the city would like to expand it, allowing police departments to help solve past crimes and gather information during on-going incidents.
A public hearing on the topic is being held during Wednesday night’s city commission meeting. Commissioners are expected to vote on whether to go forward with the pilot project.