Doorbell and home security cameras help police nab suspects

CEDAR RAPIDS — November was a rough month for Marissa Moes, whose southeast Cedar Rapids home was broken into twice in two weeks by two different individuals.

The Wellington Heights Community Church at 1600 Fourth Ave. SE, right next door to her, had security cameras, which caught the burglars on video.

Police used color video from on of the cameras to arrest Benjamin Harper, 35, of Cedar Rapids, in the 1 a.m. Nov. 10 burglary. The suspect in the second burglary on Nov. 29 — shown on blurry, black-and-white video — has yet to be found.

Moes said she woke up around 4 a.m. Nov. 10 to find a man sitting on her bed. He ran from her house when she awoke. She didn’t get a good look at the man, but the church’s video footage helped police track him down.

“He walked right in front of one of their cameras, so we got what he was wearing. And someone that works at the bus station recognized him because he wore those pants, I guess, five days a week and he fit the description,” Moes said.

He was arrested on a different charge, and Moes said she then identified him as her intruder.

“He only stole cash from me, so it wasn’t a lot,” she said. “It was more the fact that he was in the house for like four hours while I was sleeping.”

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Harper was originally charged with second-degree burglary for entering Moes’ house, and third-degree burglary for breaking into an apartment a couple of blocks away Nov. 12.

He pleaded guilty in January to two counts of third-degree burglary and one count of possession of a controlled substance. He was sentenced to five years in prison, which was suspended, and he was put on three years probation. His probation was revoked in February when he was arrested on drug charges.

“The police, they followed up quite a few times, just trying to get everything correct and do whatever they could,” Moes said. “So, I think they did a good job with the footage that they had.”

Second burglary

In the weeks following the first burglary, Moes decided not to stay at her house. On Nov. 29, someone else broke a window to gain entry to her home, stealing many of Moes’ belongings.

This burglar also was caught on a church security camera. But it was a blurry, black-and-white image taken by a camera mounted on the side of the church and has not led to an arrest.

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After the second burglary, the church pitched to help Moes buy security cameras for her house.

The cameras, she said, have made her more comfortable staying in her home, and she hasn’t had any more break-ins.

“I’ve learned a very hard lesson, but it all worked out,” Moes said. “No one got hurt. So that’s all that really matters.”

Home security systems

Home security systems and doorbell cameras have become more widely used in the past few years — around 30 percent of homes now have them in the U.S. — and their videos and images are often used in police investigations.

In Cedar Rapids, community members can register their security cameras with the police department, to let police know they’re available for possible use in investigations.

Registering a camera doesn’t give police access to a home’s video feed. It just lets police know who has cameras so officers know which doors to knock on first.

“The reason for our registration program is not necessarily for investigations that are ongoing because we’re going to canvass the neighborhood anyway. It’s for a major event that happens, let’s say in the middle of the night, and we need information quickly,” said Sgt. Laura May, the Cedar Rapids police community outreach officer.

Having images of a suspect from a surveillance camera makes it much easier to track them down, May said. And when cameras in the area of a crime are registered, it makes the process of finding those images much faster.

“If we had a major crime, and we know we’re looking for a vehicle or person and we have that description, we can send that out to all the officers, and that could mean the difference in solving something in minutes rather than days,” May said.

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At this time, 113 cameras are in the city’s camera database: 20 in the southeast quadrant; 29 in the southwest; 17 in the northwest; 29 in the northeast; and 18 without a quadrant, according to the police department.

When a crime happens in an area without a registered camera nearby, investigators look for homes with cameras and ask to review the footage. It’s very rare for someone to refuse that access, May said.

“I think we have a great community that’s willing to be supportive of the police department, and they want safe neighborhoods,” she said. “We have a lot of willing community members that are willing to share that information.”

Mound View

Carol Sindelar, president of the Mound View Neighborhood Association, said doorbell cameras have helped a few investigations in her northeast Cedar Rapids neighborhood.

The association has had police officers speak a couple of times with residents about the importance of registering home security cameras if they have them.

“I don’t know exactly how many people got on board and actually registered their cameras, but I do know that the police don’t hesitate to knock on doors and ask,” Sindelar said.

“I can see where it can be helpful,” she said, “and I have not seen any bad sides of it, where it was a problem.”

Comments: (319) 398-8328; emily.andersen@thegazette.com