Chattanooga Police want more public cameras

CHATTANOOGA (WDEF) – Chattanooga Police have been operating a high definition video surveillance system for the last two years.

It’s helped them identify suspects, dozens of times, in just this year alone.

Now, they’re adding more cameras.

News 12’s Ashley Henderson has the details.

“The top left and the bottom right are in the area of the shooting.”

The Chattanooga Police Department has 29 high definition cameras stationed at various locations in the city. It’s part of their Real Time Intelligence Center. They can view, operate, and record images from these cameras that have frequently helped identify suspects.

Just last week one of the cameras helped to identify a suspect in a fatal shooting at a convenience store on Dodson Ave.

Lt. Daniel Francis tells us “Last Monday involving the homicide on Dodson Avenue, within about thirty minutes, our investigators had identified a potential suspect. ”

Police were familiar with the suspect his name is Deontae Talley. He was arrested and charged.

Police can also access other city owned security cameras, and those owned by the Chattanooga Housing Authority. That adds hundreds of additional real time camera views to this center.

“The neat part about the cameras is – it, in and of itself is a form of eyewitness. So previously you’d have to identify an eyewitness, they would have to be willing to cooperate, you would have to develop that information, verify the information, and then, try to go find the suspect.”

Now, that can be done by sending an image to investigators in just a few minutes.

Funding has already been allocated to add another 5 cameras this year.

“Our crime analyst unit gives us statistical data on types of calls, number of calls, locations, and we take that, we take input from our police officers, and we take input from community members, and we submit all of that together to Chief Roddy, and he makes the ultimate determination of where the cameras will be placed.”

Francis says an upcoming community meeting will allow community members to make suggestions for future camera locations.

In Chattanooga, Ashley Henderson, News 12 Now.