Danville Police Want Database of Security Cameras

The Danville Police Department wants to create a database of security camera locations in the Illinois city.

Public Safety Director Larry Thomason says knowing which businesses and other organizations have cameras could help police during investigations. Authorities are asking business and homeowners who have cameras to voluntarily share the locations with police.

Currently, burglar and fire alarm systems must be registered with the city but security cameras do not.

Thomason tells the (Champaign) News-Gazette that cameras do more than protect individual businesses – they also capture images of nearby activity.

This month, a business’s security camera showed a getaway car used in a bank robbery. The image was not caught by the bank’s cameras.

Police say having to canvass an area for cameras during an investigation eats up valuable time.