Hoping to catch some of the success seen in municipalities across the country, the Jamestown Police Department on Monday announced it is establishing a security camera registry.

The program will give police access to a list of participating residents and business owners with cameras. The registry is voluntary and, according to Chief Timothy Jackson, allows officers “to be more efficient” during investigations whereas such searches for potential video following crimes currently require door-to-door canvasses.

JPD noted in a statement Monday that registering a security camera would not give the department live access or access to review previously recorded footage without a member of the department first making contact.

“The Jamestown Police Department is confident that this program will be beneficial to our community,” JPD said. “The program will assist with solving crimes, provide exculpatory evidence, assist with locating missing and runaway children, assist with locating vulnerable adults, along with many other investigations.”

The city already employs numerous stationed cameras at some of its busiest intersections. The cameras have aided police in tracking vehicles or following movements of people during investigations.

Similar registries have been established by police and municipal agencies across the U.S. as home security systems have become more affordable.

“In doing so, our department can better focus resources when searching for security camera footage,” the department said. “For example, if a crime occurs in or around your neighborhood or business, we would be able to contact you directly via telephone or in person if we believe that your security camera may have captured relevant footage. This will allow us to be more efficient in conducting our investigations and, in some cases, assist in complying with social distancing guidelines by reducing unnecessary close contact.”

Those interested in registering a camera with JPD are asked to call 640-0325.

This won’t be the first attempt to establish a registry at the local level. In June 2018, then-District Attorney Patrick Swanson along with local police chiefs announced the creation of “Community CrimeCam” — a countywide registry modeled after after similar initiatives across the state and country.

“If you have an outdoor surveillance system you can volunteer your name, address and telephone number,” Swanson said at a press conference. “The information would then be put into a database and plotted on a map for reference when a crime is committed. Then, if we have a suspect or vehicle description for a crime in your area and we know you have cameras outside, we can contact you and ask if you, or we, can review your footage to see if you captured any images that can help solve the case.”

It’s unclear if the countywide program ever got off the ground. The link announced at the time (chautauquany.seamlessdocs.com/f/CrimeCam) appears to be active.