Former Buffalo Police Captain says doorbell cameras are helping solve crime

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - A former Buffalo Police captain says doorbell cameras have been helpful in solving crimes, especially at street level. In fact, the Buffalo Police Department has a program where residents can register to share video evidence of crimes committed.

Jeff Rinaldo with Vista Security Group says those cameras have been extremely helpful.

"The vast majority of households now have some kind of video surveillance device. Based on where a situation occurs, these cameras have been able to produce very good evidence for the police to use in investigating crimes and situations," said Rinaldo in an interview with WBEN.

Rinaldo says most street-level crimes can be captured by these doorbell cameras.

"Any kind of crime that can occur in a public place, these cameras, based on where they sit on houses, the number of them on the street can tend to give a pretty good picture of a situation, and also give police clues they need to follow up on to bring a conclusion to a case," Rinaldo said.

Doorbell cameras led to the Buffalo Police Department starting a SafeCam program, where residents and businesses could register to allow police to access video if a crime is committed in their neighborhood. While some were concerned police would have access to their system without them knowing about it, the way the program was set up is that they did not.

"All you were doing was putting yourself on a registry to say that you had a camera, the police would still have to go to your business or your residence and request permission to view the footage on those cameras," explained Rinaldo, the former Buffalo Police captain.

Rinaldo says it's been helpful in prosecutors to get convictions.

"Juries want to see video evidence. They want to see body cam footage. They want to see interrogation videos. They want to see and hear it with their own eyes and ears, versus based on witness accounts and things of that nature," Rinaldo said.

He adds anytime a prosecutor can show a jury video or audio, it really helps to allow the jury to understand the situation, see it with their own eyes and make a judgment based on what they're witnessing.