New Bedford Police create Security Camera Registry

By Ana Bottary

abottary@abc6.com

@anabottary

The New Bedford Police Department is requesting anyone with a camera to report it, so they can build the new database, that way, if there is a crime police will know if there were cameras rolling in the area or not.

"This will be a great tool for us. It’ll cut back on a lot of man hours when we are trying to canvas neighborhoods looking for cameras due to a particular crime," says Lieutenant Amos Melo.

Surveillance video has already helped a great deal.
 
Lieutenant Melo says one of their most recent cases was at a New Bedford 711. One man robbed the store multiple times, they were able to identify him through surveillance video.
 
"If you’ve got somebody on camera and you’ve got good footage of them, that’s all you need," says Lieutenant Melo.

The suspect, Scott almeda was arrested and charged with six different robberies. Police stress they won’t have direct access to the cameras, people will have to hand video over voluntarily. It’s something one local business owner thinks is a great idea.
 
"If they have it in the streets and the people see it, they’re not going to do that much crime," says Pepe Konstantopoulos.

(c)WLNE-TV 2016