The City of Memphis and the Memphis Police Department are launching Connect Memphis, a new camera integration system that will allow businesses and residents to share their exterior surveillance footage directly with law enforcement during times of emergency. 

If a crime, such as a robbery, burglary or aggravated assault, occurs at a business or a residence, investigators would be able to download surveillance footage directly from those cameras instead of going to the business or homeowner to request the footage — a process that can take hours. 

Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland, MPD Chief Cerelyn “C.J.” Davis and MPD Deputy Chief of Information Systems Joe Oakley announced the program Wed., Nov. 16, inside the Real Time Crime Center (RTCC). The Daily Memphian first reported on the public-private partnership in August.

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“Think about it as virtual policing,” Oakley said during the announcement. “We may not have a police officer in every corner, but we may have a camera. It’s like a neighborhood watch in the 21st century. We’re very excited about it.”

Residents and business owners have the option of either registering or integrating their camera system.

Registering the camera system would enable investigators to know a camera is present at their location and easily request video evidence should an incident occur. There is no cost to register a camera with MPD.

Camera integration, however, gives the Memphis Police Department — and investigators at the RTCC — direct access to camera feeds in case of a nearby emergency. 

The homeowner or business owner would buy an integration device that plugs into their camera system. Prices of the small fususCORE devices range from $350 to $7,300.

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Subscription costs also range widely, from $150 annually for a model that integrates up to four cameras to $2,300 a year to integrate up to 50 cameras. 

“Right now, the department has to literally knock on doors and ask individuals and businesses if they have camera access to an incident,” Strickland said. “So individuals join our program and businesses — it will help the Memphis Police Department help you. They’ll be able to move faster and save time in trying to solve crime, or if there’s an active incident, be able to act quicker to stop it.”

Davis said the integration system can be used to help monitor large events like parades or active shooting situations. It can also be used to search for vehicles of interest, which could have been helpful during incidents such as the shooting spree allegedly carried out by Ezekiel Kelly Sept. 7. 

“The Memphis Police Department is full of hard-working men and women,” Davis said. “We work tirelessly to make this city safer, but honestly, they can’t do it alone. Connect Memphis gets us closer to accomplishing this goal by adding another tool to our tool belt and partnering with our community members utilizing the latest technology available.”

By the time officials announced the program Wednesday morning, 15 cameras had already been registered at Central BBQ Downtown, Wiseacre Brewing Co. HQ Downtown, a downtown law firm and a mini market at South 2nd Street and Madison Avenue.

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Officials demonstrated how they would be able to select a business’ camera system on a map, allowing them to view live footage on a large screen in the RTCC.

Davis said RTCC has been working on the new system for months. 

“Connect Memphis will rival some of the video integration centers around the country in other major cities like Atlanta, like New York City, like Detroit, like Chicago, and expand our ability to have real time information by this public-private partnership,” Davis said. 

Currently, the city owns 3,500 cameras that are accessible to view in real time. With the new integration system, officials hope law enforcement will have access to 20,000 cameras. 

“The city of Atlanta, when they created this program, Connect Atlanta, 16,000 citizens and businesses signed up,” Strickland said. “So we could go from 3,500 cameras and have the same success. We could be close to 20,000 cameras total — more eyes on the street to help MPD.” 

Community members are encouraged to register to participate in the program by going to the Connect Memphis website.