The City of Chattanooga, Tennessee introduced Dragonfly Community Connect today, a public-private policing initiative linking security cameras from participating private businesses directly to the Chattanooga Police Department (CPD).

Chattanooga hosts over 80 businesses employing more than 100 people and an active small business community. The city aims to enhance public safety by upgrading video surveillance access for those in the program.

Through the initiative, when calls come into the CPD to report a crime, the department's Real-Time Intelligence Center (RTIC) can check with participating businesses in the area to see if they are able to share video from their security cameras.

Using a cloud-based video monitoring service from Genetec, business owners can give permission and provide access to their video streams to the CPD upon request so that investigating officers can monitor live video during an incident or review recorded video during an investigation directly from the Security Center platform located in the RTIC. Business owners can also keep an eye on their business and view live and recorded video from their laptop, tablet or smartphone 24/7.

“Having the capability to view live video allows our investigators to quickly send images of suspects, their vehicles and other crucial information to officers who are responding to calls for service,” said retired Chattanooga Police Chief David Roddy. "It dramatically reduces the time officers spend requesting, accessing or obtaining video evidence relative to the event or crime to which they are responding.”

The city chose Dragonfly Community Connect for its project name as dragonflies have a nearly 360-degree field of vision. The surveillance partnership aims to increase public safety by giving police easier access to security camera feeds.