By Kary Bisagno, Sheriff’s Office Community Service Officer
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office prides itself on pursuing new and innovative methods of crime prevention in the community. The Neighborhood Video Partnership is the latest such method being implemented by the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office. The goal of the Neighborhood Video Partnership is to deter crime and promote public safety through the mutual collaboration between our office and the community we serve.
Many resident and businesses have taken extra security measures to monitor their homes and property by installing security cameras. The Sheriff’s Office is seeking to partner with anyone who would be interested in voluntarily sharing video from these cameras with the Sheriff’s Office in the event it captures anything of investigative significance.
Security camera footage is often a valuable tool when investigating criminal activity. This footage can capture images of crimes in progress, people involved in suspicious activity, provide detailed suspect vehicle information, and can sometimes help track the direction of travel of suspicious people entering or leaving a neighborhood.
The Neighborhood Video Partnership provides us with a volunteer database of video resources which can be used to search for investigative clues. Registering your camera system not only helps deter crime, but assists in the overall crime prevention strategy in your neighborhood.
The Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Office will not have direct access to any camera system or footage. We would only contact the resident if a crime occurred in the neighborhood and there is a belief that their registered system may contain something of investigative significance.
The Santa Cruz Sheriff’s Office will send each registered participant a sticker to be placed in a conspicuous area on the homes or businesses identifying them as a member of the Sheriff’s Office Neighborhood Video Partnership team. These stickers will help deter crime by sending a clear visual message to criminals that a record of their presence in being made.
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If you are interested in becoming a Neighborhood Video Partner with the Sheriff’s Office and live in the unincorporated part of our county which includes Live Oak, please visit our website at scsheriff.com to register or contact Community Service Officer Kary Bisagno directly with any questions at 454-7689 / [email protected]