During a panel on Tuesday, D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith called on small business owners to allow police access to their cameras to help stop crime.
On Tuesday, D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith joined Peter Kilpatrick, president of Catholic University, at the 2024 Potomac Conference on Public Safety.
As Kilpatrick finished his thoughts, Smith looked at the panel moderator, Elliot Ferguson, president and CEO of Destination DC. He immediately shook his head, understanding that DC’s top police official had one last thing to say.
“I just want to add one thing. I work in an environment where there are private sector companies,” Smith said. “One of the things we have implemented with the Real-Time Crime Detection Center is the ability to connect cameras.”
The panel discussion theme was “Collaborating for Success: Strategies, Resources, and Building Trust” and was held in collaboration with the Board of Trade, the Council of Governments, the Greater Washington Partnership, and the Consortium of Universities.
During the roughly 40-minute talk, both Smith and Metro Transit Chief Michael Anzallo discussed how crime rates have declined over this calendar year.
Smith said that to date, the Metropolitan Police Department has nearly 40,000 cameras connected to The Real-Time Crime Center via CameraConnect DC
“We’re asking you, your partners, your businesses, to connect your cameras to our Real-Time Crime Detection Center,” Smith said. “If you have businesses, small mom-and-pop stores, we really want to use your cameras.”
Smith later spoke to WTOP and made another call to business owners.
“Please, please, please allow the Metropolitan Police Department access to those cameras,” Smith said. “It helps us get to the scene quicker and make the appropriate arrests of those individuals who are wreaking havoc on our city.”
Smith also spoke about The fall of crime that the District has seen since January.
“We’ve had a 30% reduction in violent crime, a 31% reduction in robberies. We’ve seen a very, very good decrease in vehicle thefts, 47%,” Smith said. “We know we still have work to do, but we have to keep moving forward.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered straight to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2024 WTOP. All rights reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.