The WA Police Force has registered the 10,000th camera on Cam-Map WA, the State’s CCTV register.
The comprehensive database of CCTV cameras monitoring public spaces gives police a technological edge when investigating serious crime, because the register acts as a virtual map of CCTV camera locations.
Cam-Map WA replaces the former Blue Iris system which is now defunct.
Minister for Police, Michelle Roberts said the past 18 months had been spent completely redesigning the register interface and improving its functionality and capability.
“The register will greatly assist police efforts to respond to and investigate crimes, and gather evidence and intelligence,” Ms Roberts said.
“So far, 404 residents have registered their CCTV assets, along with 44 Local Government Authorities and 240 schools throughout Western Australia.”
In encouraging more members of the community to sign up to Cam-Map WA, the Minister stressed the collection, use and storage of CCTV images and footage from the register was governed by strict guidelines and procedures to ensure it was used only for its intended purpose.
“CCTV is a valuable tool not only for investigating crimes, but for preventing crimes,” Ms Roberts said.
“It will help police locate footage faster as they investigate crimes and it will increase their responsiveness to emergency situations and critical incidents as they are happening.”
She said there were numerous CCTV systems in the community, many of which had cameras facing public areas, so it made sense for police to be able to access data from those cameras in the investigation of crime.