City leaders discuss camera system as potential vandalism deterrent

LACONIA — Following the discovery of profane graffiti on walls, windows and doors of businesses on Pleasant, Main and Hanover streets early in the morning of Jan. 9, Laconia police charged a pair of brothers from Massachusetts with felony criminal mischief.

Thomas and Jonathan Yarbrough, ages 21 and 19, of East Falmouth, Massachusetts, were charged about 24 hours after the incident. During a meeting of the public works subcommittee and police commission Friday morning, Chief Matt Canfield was unequivocal: community participation resolved the ordeal.

“What solved that case is a Ring doorbell camera,” he said.

The purpose of the meeting Friday was largely to discuss deterrents against similar offenses in the future. The utility of surveillance cameras proved invaluable in holding the Yarbrough brothers to account, and city and police department leaders think leaning into that strategy could pay dividends down the road.

Axon, a police technology company that supplies body-worn cameras to the city police department, also offers a product called “Fusus,” a real-time crime center which enables law enforcement officials to aggregate multiple sources of video and other data to provide officers with accurate information quickly in the case of a crime or other public safety incident.

In addition to tying into municipal camera systems, the Axon Fusus platform allows citizens or businesses to opt-in and share all or some of their camera feeds, providing additional information to law enforcement while either monitoring an ongoing situation or investigating a crime. 

The city would need to receive permission from private citizens or businesses for the integration of those surveillance cameras, but councilors Bruce Cheney (Ward 1) and Robert Soucy (Ward 2) — both former law enforcement officers — signaled their support for the idea, if it were to come to fruition. The broader city council would need to take up the discussion at some point in order for the notion to get up and off the ground. 

If Laconia were to subscribe to the technology, they’d be just the second city in New Hampshire to do so — the City of Manchester already uses it. But it comes at a hefty price tag; the software alone costs around $150,000 each year. Public safety utility aside, citizens may have concerns regarding privacy, and leaders hope they can communicate the benefits effectively while disposing of the notion infringements would occur by emphasizing it would require an opt-in, permission based agreement, potentially involving an official memorandum of understanding.

“If it's a business camera, it's up to the business. If they want us to access just their front door, we can. If you own your own private Ring camera, maybe you don’t trust the police and you say ‘I don’t want you to have access to my camera but I’ll register my camera’, which is another component to the system,” Canfield said, explaining citizens could register a camera and the police could send an email to all registered camera owners requesting any footage from a given time and location, and camera owners could choose to provide it, or not.

The technology is being implemented by various municipalities around the country — in recent months, cities in New York, Georgia and Arkansas have approved initiatives, while another in Nashville failed to gain city council support last month.

“It’s not just for cameras. It can pull in cameras from any source, whether it be on a permission basis — if the business owner grants it — or whether you have a Ring doorbell camera that you don’t want us to have access to, but you’re willing to register it so we know you have it, so if something happens we can reach out to you,” Canfield said. “It also can tie into our body cameras. So if you have an active shooter event, we can actually pull up all of our body cameras into a live mode, so we can see where all of our officers are, and we have access to their live video.”

Canfield on Friday said he hopes local businesses might consider the benefit such a system could provide to them, with seamless collaboration possible and police able to quickly review footage in the case of an emergency or public safety incident. 

Cheney said the introduction of such a system may prove an effective deterrent against future vandalism and noted the installation of signs indicating an area is monitored by video alone may help prevent such cases as occurred earlier in January, and Ward 6 Councilor Tony Felch said local business owners may like the additional level of security such a system could bring.

“If a store owner has some cameras on the outside, you can plug into that software and look at that?” Soucy asked.

“Correct — with their permission,” Cheney said.