MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis Police want you to let them access security cameras at your business or home.

They say it will help them solve crime, but what does that access actually look like?

MPD said it devoted countless resources and finally caught a break when officer went door-to-door to find multiple neighborhood surveillance cameras that captured an accused child kidnapper and rapist in South Memphis last April.

The video helped them finally make an arrest.

MPD says cameras play an important role in solving crime from property crime to violent incidents like when gunfire erupted at a North Memphis gas station last summer.

As soon as officers got the security footage and posted it to social media, they say tips poured in.

“If we can get it the same day or maybe the next day, we have a better chance of identifying our suspects, gathering our witnesses, and making arrests,” said MPD Deputy Chief of Information Systems Joe Oakley.

He said a detective spends on average eight hours a week searching for video. Their goal is to change that.

In November 2022, we were there when the now-former mayor and MPD’s top brass announced a new safety program that would make it easier for officers to access more private cameras and hopefully solve more crime.

The program is called Connect Memphis. Basically, residents and business owners can voluntarily register or integrate their outdoor security cameras with MPD’s system.

“In the past, we have been placing our Blue Crush cameras on poles, but some of those are aging,” Oakley said.

He said some are also damaged or even shot at, and it’s expensive to replace those SkyCop Cameras you see around town.

“We are wanting to go this way to have more access over ownership,” he said.

MPD invited us back to their Real Time Crime Center to give us another look at the technology and the new features they’ve added.

This is what they see at the Real Time Crime Center. Technology provided by Georgia-based firm Fusus.

Oakley says when a crime occurs, the officer can circle the area on the map, see who’s opted into the program, and instead of going door-to-door, they send a request to the registered camera owners to see if they captured anything of interest.

Most of the home cameras like RING have their own integration or storage, so you would register those cameras and MPD would only be able to ask for the footage.

Oakley says they can’t access a live feed until you integrate your cameras. You can pay for the equipment and storage to hook up to your cameras, so it works with their system.

“And then if we have an issue occurring or see a suspect coming up to the business that we know is going to commit a crime, we advise our officers so they can make a quick apprehension,” Oakley said.

He said the technology also allows them to tap into city and traffic cameras and uses artificial intelligence to search the video for objects like weapons and vehicles of interest. As of recently, they can access a live feed of an officer’s in-car video and body-worn camera when it’s turned on.

“I think it’s a game changer. Not only is it going to help us to solve crimes, it’s going to help prevent crimes as well,” he said.

Benefits other departments are also touting. Atlanta launched a program with the same technology two years ago.

Nearly 20,000 cameras are now registered and 17,000 are integrated. They said it’s helped them solve crimes, curtail street racing, and even helped find a dementia patient who wandered off.

The Shelby County Sheriff’s Office announced last month, it too was hopping on board.

However, privacy advocates remain hesitant of who can access the footage. According to the terms of services, the tech company states “authorized sharing is limited to parties on a need-to-know basis.”

MPD assures us their program is strictly to make the city safer.

“It’s not big brother, because we only have access to cameras you want us to have access to,” Oakley said.

As of the first week of January, 5,000 cameras have been registered and 668 have been integrated.

Oakley said if more Memphians opted in, “it saves our detectives time.”

Time he calls precious especially when the department is short-staffed and the crime never ends.

What to learn more about Connect Memphis?

To find out more, click here.

To register your camera, click here.

To integrate your cameras, click here.