Iowa City Police start surveillance camera registration program

IOWA CITY — The Iowa City Police Department has started a surveillance camera registration program, similar to the programs already in use in Cedar Rapids and Marion. Iowa City businesses and community members who have surveillance cameras are invited to register those cameras with the police department to help with police investigations, according to a news release from the city.

“In the event of a critical incident or criminal investigation, business or residential security cameras may capture evidence essential to solving a case. Law enforcement investigations frequently involve officers canvassing neighborhoods surrounding a crime scene for security camera locations,” the release states.

“Knowing where cameras are located greatly speeds up investigations by allowing officers to prioritize where to begin looking for evidence,” the release states. “Many times, the best available video evidence is not of the crime scene itself, but pathways and streets leading into and out of the crime scene.”

Registering a camera doesn’t give the police department access to the video footage, but rather provides investigators a list of where they can look to find footage if and when a crime occurs.

Marion and Cedar Rapids both started similar programs in 2019, which police say have proved helpful in investigations. As of the beginning of April, Cedar Rapids had 113 cameras in its database.

Iowa City community members can register their cameras online.

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