ST. JOHNS COUNTY, Fla. — The St. Johns County Sheriff’s Office is asking for resident’s help in controlling crime, by giving them access to your security cameras.
The St. Johns Sheriff’s Office is asking the community to partner with them so that they can better observe and respond to crime, and to collect evidence at a quicker rate.
Action News Jax’s Jimmy Marlow spoke with homeowners who say they support the initiative but want to keep control of their cameras.
St. Augustine resident Charles Donges has not opted in to “Connect St. Johns” but supports the idea of partnering with the sheriff’s office to enhance their abilities. He’d choose registration over integration.
Donges added, “I’d be more than happy to register, but at this point I wouldn’t automatically go in and pull the feed.”
When Jimmy asked him why, he responded, “I’d like to keep control of it, and if there is a glitch on their side and it affects my cameras, how do I deal with that? But I’m willing to do anything to help the sheriffs and police.”
Level one of the initiative means registering your cameras, which only allows investigators to know that there is an active camera at your location, if needed they can request video evidence from the owner.
St. Augustine resident Irene Bonidie told Jimmy that she would also feel comfortable with just registering of the cameras; she added, “For my own privacy, they can look at my camera videos if something happens, but I just don’t want them invading my privacy.”
Level two is integration, which gives the sheriff’s office direct access to your camera feed in case of an emergency through a small core that would be attached to your camera system.
Irene’s husband, Robert Bonidie says the need for “Connect St. Johns” growing, “I think it’s getting out of a control, the violence, the guns and shootings. Something needs to be done. Everybody think about it, make up your own mind and do what’s best for you.”
If you would like to be involved, we’ll put the information for Connect St. Johns on our website at ActionNewsJax.com.
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