NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (WAVY) - Do you ever have the feeling you were being watched?
You are.
Your image can go from a smart phone to the center of a world-wide social network in seconds.
Cameras are everywhere, meaning almost anyone can see us, and you can watch your property from anywhere, even from that device in your pocket.
Mark Dionne, owner of Eagle Security Solutions in Chesapeake showed us an image of his receptionist on his iPhone.
"She's working diligently on her computer as she's supposed to be doing," said Dionne.
Dionne installs surveillance cameras that greet you in convenience stores and banks, In fact, 70 percent of his business is watching business.
"It's a necessity nowadays," said Dionne.
"We love stupid crooks. Stupid crooks are good for business"
And they're good for police, with the help of that eye that captures mini crime dramas that air as reality vignettes on WAVY News 10, where you the viewer can help catch the bad guys.
"I can say it helps us immensely as investigators," says Allison Erickson, a detective with Newport News Police.
Electronic images of criminals cross her computer screen nearly every shift.
"One of the first stops we make after one of these cases is the public information office, and they get this stuff out to the media."
Here's one of those cases: Jan. 23 at 7:50 p.m.? A guy enters the Sentry Mart on J. Clyde Morris Boulevard dressed in dark baggy clothes, head covered. He pulls a gun and orders a customer to the floor and the tells the clerk to empty the register. He gets cash and lottery tickets. A second man enters and appears to get a hand-off when they cross paths.
Erickson says this is where the public can help.
"If this is someone anyone out there knows, they will know how how he holds himself. The way he moves, his gestures. His posture, the way he smiles."
Erickson then showed us a second piece of surveillance that came an hour after the Sentry robbery. It showed a man entering a mini mart in Hampton to cash lottery tickets.
"You can see distinctive clothing: the teal-colored hoodie, and you see the same sweatshirt in the second video without the mask."
So now police have a face in the Sentry job.
"And a lot of reasons we can determine that is because of clothing, because of different factors we can say we have the same guy in both locations."
Pieces are coming together, but the case remains unsolved.
Newport News Detectives L.D. LeGrande showed us tape from another case.
"I think the same day this video aired we got a call in reference to a tip about this individual," LeGrande said.
The individual is Jahlil Joel Wiley , described as a career robber at age 22. He was suspected in three robberies, before this video captured another job. And his face was splashed over the airwaves. Detectives later determined the face of this man dressed for business was Wiley. His career is on hiatus for the next 40 years.
There are no statistics for solved cases directly attributed to surveillance video. But in 2005, Crime Line reported it helped solve 585 cases in Hampton Roads In 2010 the number rose to 788 .
"I don't think the criminal cares about a camera," said LeGrande. Criminals are going commit a crime. It's assisted on identifying the criminals.
Detective Erickson says her job would be more difficult without that watchful eye.
"In cases where we may not have a witness, it gives us a witness. "
A witness, and a challenge to the criminal mind, who will always have something to watch over them
Source: http://www.wavy.com/dpp/news/local_news/how-cameras-help-police-catch-criminals
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