Officials encourage residents to register their doorbell cameras with police in new Link Toledo program

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - City of Toledo leaders announced a new program Tuesday in an effort to crack cases and fight crime. Toledo Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz said Tuesday the goal of Link Toledo is to empower the community in playing a role in public safety.

The new policing technology program would allow businesses to register their surveillance cameras with police. Residents can also give permission for police to access their residential security cameras to help authorities gather evidence and respond to incidents.

Registering residential cameras is a simple process that can be completed in less than one minute through a secure online portal. The registration does not grant the Toledo Police Department access to live video feeds; instead, it notifies investigators of the presence of cameras at specific locations and allows them to request relevant footage if required.

“What happens now when there is a crime committed is officers knock on doors in the neighborhood and ask if you have cameras,” Chief Michael Troendle said, explaining how the program will support the Toledo Police Department. “By registering your cameras, you’re allowing our officers to save time by contacting those residents directly. This also gives residents more anonymity by allowing them to submit videos for review without neighbors seeing an officer show up on their doorstep.”

In addition to residential camera registration, the Link Toledo program also offers businesses the opportunity to participate by registering or integrating their security camera systems.

“As a matter of policy, we will not be watching the business cameras unless a call comes in for an emergency,” Lt. Jeffrey Thieman clarified. “If an incident does take place, officers will be able to pull up a feed from their vehicles and assess how to respond, or investigators will be able to immediately pull video recordings needed to identify a suspect or a vehicle, instead of waiting for businesses to retrieve those recordings 12 or 24 hours later.”

Those interested in participating can register their security cameras at the link here. You can watch the full news conference in the video below.

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